Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, March 29, 1995 TAG: 9503290036
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV-11 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: CHRIS KING
DATELINE: RADFORD LENGTH: Medium
In two years Radford lacrosse coach Chris Swanenburg has taken a program that bordered on chaotic and returned it to respectability. During that time, the rate of turnover on the team has been higher than that of a fast-food restaurant.
Only two players survived the transition from former coach Steve Billings to Swanenburg. (And consider this: There are more than 20 people on a lacrosse team.)
Along with the influx of new players has come a new approach to the game.
"We had some kids who weren't committed to lacrosse and didn't have the same vision I did,'' said the 26-year-old Swanenburg, who is the youngest coach in Division I lacrosse. "Now we have kids who are coming to Radford to get an education and play lacrosse.''
With a team that features 13 freshman, Swanenburg's first recruiting class, the results have been on display from the start. The Highlanders opened the season against seventh-ranked North Carolina and played the Tar Heels evenly for most of the first half before falling 21-5.
Radford went on to win its next two games to run its record to 2-1, marking the first time since 1988 a Radford lacrosse team has been over .500 at any point in the season.
The change "has been dramatic,'' said senior Chris Internicola, one of the two holdovers. "One of [Swanenburg's] goals was to weed out the people who weren't committed to playing lacrosse. He intentionally made it tough last year to get those people out. I wanted to prove I could play on a better team.''
"He is one of the most intense competitors I have ever met,'' said junior Danny Bennett, the other holdover. "He has brought pride back to the program - that is what was missing before. Now when you look down the bench you see someone who wants to win at least as bad as you do, if not more.''
Despite the improvement of this year's squad, there is still work to be done. The Highlanders have dropped three games in a row, but their biggest loss came in the form of an injury. Freshman Scott Regina, the team's best player and leading scorer when he went down, tore his anterior cruciate ligament and patellar tendon and is out for at least the remainder of this year.
Since the injury, the players have struggled to redefine their role on the team, a task not made any easier by the team's youth.
"It has been tough with the team being so young and Scott being such an integral part of our offense,'' Swanenburg said. "It puts a heavier burden on a lot of kids. It is matter of seeing how hard they want to work and how far they want to go with it.''
Called upon to help ease the loss of Regina will be the team's leading scorer sophomore Corey Fenley, and freshmen B.J. Forte and Chris Karppala. To further emphasize the contribution the Highlanders are getting from their underclassmen consider this: 36 of Radford's 42 goals have been scored by freshmen or sophomores.
Seeing a program turn around in a period of four years isn't a foreign experience for Swanenburg. A 1990 Yale graduate, he was part of a team that was the whipping boy of the Ivy League his freshman year and a Final Four participant his senior season.
After starting as a goalie his first two years, and being named an All-Ivy League performer, his playing time decreased with the emergence of a classmate who went on to become an All-America performer.
"I went from being the guy on television to a guy on the bench my senior season,'' said Swanenburg. "It was tough picking splinters out of my rear end, but I learned there are two sides to every story. Whether you are playing or not playing, you have to appreciate your role on the team.''
While the chances of a Radford team rivaling the turnaround of Swanenburg's Yale squad and reaching the Final Four are almost obsolete, the improvements haven't gone unnoticed. FACE-OFF magazine, the authority on the national lacrosse scene wrote, "Swanenburg has brought tremendous excitement to the Radford program. ... Don't worry about the record this year - down the road we are looking forward to following the progress, growth and maturity of the Radford program."
Highlander Hitman: Senior Duane Filchner has continued his march toward owning every major offensive record in RU baseball history.
After starting the season slowly, Filchner is on a 10-game hitting streak that has helped his average rise to .330, still 49 points below his career average of .379. Last week, the Northhampton, Pa., native broke Travis Morgan's record for hits in a career with 219, and Filchner needs only five RBI to shatter California Angel minor leaguer Denny Van Pelt's record of 151 RBI.
To put Filchner's offensive exploits into perspective, barring injury he will hold every career Highlander offensive record with the exception of walks and strikeouts.
In another record setting performance, pitcher Jim Abbot struck out a record 15 batters in a 6-3 victory over defending conference champion UNC Greensboro. Northside graduate Kelly Dampeer needs only one home run to tie the single season mark of John Gilbert and Van Pelt of 11.
by CNB