新面貌先锋致力恢复制胜之道

There’s a lot that is new this year for the University of Denver’s 男子曲棍球 团队. 彼得巴顿长曲棍球体育场获得了 主要改造 有新的草皮和新的球场设计. 当学生运动员上场时, they will be wearing new jerseys matching the color 和 design of the field. 在杜克大学当了17年的助理教练之后， 马特·布朗 takes over as the new head coach after the retirement of Bill Tierney.

“Somebody asked me if it feels any different being the head coach as opposed to the assistant coach,布朗说. “真的没有，但我想念我的朋友在身边. 我就是这么形容的.”

Brown (BSBA ’05) was a four-year starter for DU in the early 2000s, 和 his 113 goals is the fourth most in program history. Coaching at his alma mater was not something he considered as he was trying to figure out what was next after college.

Brown played professionally in both Arizona 和 Colorado, which also gave him the opportunity to begin working with kids on their lacrosse game.

“I fell in love with interacting with the players,” he says. “That’s when I really found out that I loved coaching.”

His coach when he played at DU brought him back as a volunteer coach 和, 在接下来的17年里, 布朗担任助理教练, 现在是副主教练, 威廉G号. 蒂尔尼头男子曲棍球教练. “There’s something to be said for being able to coach at the place where you played 和 went to school,布朗说.

His coaching experience is not limited to the college game. Brown, a native of British Columbia, was an assistant for Team Canada when it defeated Team U.S.A. in 2012. He coached Canada’s under-19 团队 in 2022 at the world championships. 在刚刚过去的这个夏天, he was the head coach for the Canadian national 团队 at the World Lacrosse Championships. 他们在冠军赛中输给了美国队.S., a 团队 that included two DU alums — Trevor Baptiste 和 Danny Logan.

“I felt like we (Canada) had a chance to win this thing. But Trevor, anytime you go against him, he’s got something else to say,布朗说. “That was special, with Trevor 和 Danny, two of our best. I am so proud of those guys 和 the way that they represent DU.”

Many of the student-athletes on this year’s DU 团队 feel the same way about their new coach. Seven seniors from last season decided to come back for a fifth 和 final year of eligibility to support Brown.

“We wanted to see a smooth transition from Coach T to Coach Brown,” says 亚历克Stathakis他是球队的对峙专家. “He’s been at Denver for so long; he went to college here, 他在这里执教很长时间了. 他只是流着深红色和金色的血. It’s nice having a coach that is that passionate 和 who underst和s what it’s like being a student-athlete 和 what it means to be a Pioneer.”

This group of returning seniors is also playing with some added motivation. 四年后, 他们只在NCAA锦标赛中出现过一次, 和 they have never won the Big East conference tournament. After losing to Georgetown in last year’s conference championship game, DU did not receive an at-large bid to the NCAA Tournament.

“I just wasn’t ready to hang them up yet,” says attackman JJ Sillstrop. “There was a lot of unfinished business with not winning the Big East. I was excited to play for Coach Brown 和 have one last go at this thing.”

“This group of seniors has a chip on their shoulder of wanting to win the Big East title 和 beat Georgetown. They are the kings; they are at the top of the throne. Until somebody knocks them off, they are the kings of the Big East,布朗说.

The regular season for the 13th ranked Pioneers begins this Saturday when they travel to play No. 约翰霍普金斯大学. They will face three more schools ranked in the preseason top 10.

今年DU的口号是“永不满足”.” They expect to play with a sense of desperation 和 not overlook any one 团队 just because of their record or what may have happened in the past.

“每场比赛都很重要. I think our flaw the past few years is maybe we don’t take one game as seriously as another,斯塔塔基斯说. “我们只是在寻求胜利. We don’t care who we play, 和 we don’t care what they are ranked. We will play you anywhere, anytime; it doesn’t matter to us.”