Sept. 16, 2015
By Maria Canales, GoPSUsports.com Student Staff Writer
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. ââ'¬" A trio of midfielders will lead the Penn State men's lacrosse team during its 2016 campaign. Seniors Tommy O'Neill and James Burke and redshirt junior Drake Kreinz have been voted as captains to lead the Nittany Lions during their 103rd season.
O'Neill, who played in all 14 games during the 2015 campaign, is honored to be named to the highest position within the program.
"It's definitely a humbling opportunity to be named captain for this team," said O'Neill. "It's a special year for us, our senior year and everything that's gone on this summer, I think all three of us are really excited to lead this team."
The New Jersey native collected 11 ground balls last season, a career-high, and hopes to only improve on this number come spring.
Alongside O'Neill serving as captain will be Burke, a fellow senior midfielder. Burke, who had his most successful season in 2015, caused a team-best 12 turnovers in 11 contests.
To finish off the trio, it's only fitting that head coach Jeff Tambroni's go-to faceoff man would fill the spot. Kreinz appeared in 13 of 14 contests in 2015 and notched a .544 win percentage at the 'X.'
The process for choosing captains has remained unchanged for years and Tambroni is confident in the system he has in place.
"There are a number of different factors going into the captains process," said Tambroni. "One is a consensus vote from last years team, we want to get exiting seniors, graduating seniors opinions on who they believe will lead this team most effectively."
After the team vote, Tambroni and fellow assistant coaches evaluate upperclassmen during the fall semester before making a final decision. Usually this announcement comes a few weeks after the players arrive back in Happy Valley. However, this year Tambroni chose to announce the names sooner than usual.
"With this years group we just really felt comfortable with James and Tommy and Drake and we announced them on day one of the fall," said Tambroni.
Penn State men's lacrosse has experimented with the number of captains the team has every year. In 2014 three seniors led the team but in 2015 the task fell solely on senior Kyle Zittel. In 2016 the magic number will once again be three, a number Tambroni is confident with.
"I think it's good that we have three captains this year just to have three different minds going into it," said O'Neill. "We can always bounce ideas off each other."
O'Neill was quick to add that just because there are three captains, doesn't mean other seniors don't get a say in what happens among the team. Burke, O'Neill and Kreinz emphasized they always relay ideas to other upperclassmen members of the team.
Another task the captains will have to rely on their fellow upperclassmen for is delegating responsibilities. With all three captains being midfielders, there are some obstacles that can present themselves. During practices, when the team breaks off into position drills, Tambroni and the captains will have to look to other upperclassmen to set the tone for their respective groups.
"You hope that they delegate some responsibility to some upperclassmen in the offensive end, like a TJ Sanders, like a Matt Florence, who we believe will manage a lot of what goes on offensively when the groups are split," said Tambroni.
Veterans setting the tone early is what Tambroni is confident will happen during this offseason. As the team welcomes 16 freshmen, the eight seniors will certainly be looked at to set the standard, but the captains said this is a challenge they are up for.
"[Sixteen freshmen] are a lot to handle but they've been great so far," said Kreinz. "They've been a great addition to the team, a lot of great players, really good guys who came to work and are competitive kids. There are only eight seniors so a little outnumbered but nothing that we can't handle and so far it's been amazing."
O'Neill explained that although each individual is unique, the captains have a few things in common when it comes to displaying the characteristics of a leader.
"We're not the most vocal but we all lead by example, on the field off the field, especially with academics," said O'Neill. "We're not ones to say something, we're more of the players see us do it and then they do it."
This concept of leading by example is something Burke and Kreinz agreed with.
"We're definitely more the doers, the opening faceoff it's us three, the guys in between the 30's, not the guys always making the flashy plays but just getting the job done," said Kreinz.
Tambroni expanded on his reasons for believing the three captains set to lead his team will be reliable young men.
"I think if you blanketed all three you'd say that they all fulfill the mantra of 'well done is better than well said.' All three of these guys are soft-spoken leaders and they all are in that top one percent of team in terms of work ethic both on and off the field," said Tambroni.
The average fan of Penn State men's lacrosse may see hard working young men on the field in Burke, O'Neill and Kreinz, but most fans don't see the hard work the three put in when not wearing a lacrosse jersey.
"The quality that's seen least in the exterior that is valued the most on the interior is their compassion for their teammates," said Tambroni. "They really care about one another on this team and they have a great deal of passion for Penn State lacrosse and the way we run our program."
The passion that drives the three young men is derived from the love of their teammates, coaches, and program. This passion and dedication will be the cornerstone for their 2016 season.
Before their first game, however, Burke, O'Neill and Kreinz will have to prepare their team the best they can during the offseason. Burke explained the methodical means of getting a team ready in the months leading up to game day.
"We're working on just getting in to practice, being competitive and working on bringing a good energy to practice," said Burke. "Just getting in the weight room, making sure people are bringing a focused and driven attitude to everything we do before January and the upcoming season."