by Morgan Hancock
This week saw two home games for the Humboldt Hogs, Cal Poly Humboldt’s own men’s lacrosse team. The team put up a fight during their Saturday game but ultimately lost to Chico.
They didn’t let the Wildcats go easily. A strong defense led by goalie Zack Gamble held off the Wildcats for nearly the whole game. The score stuck at 1-7 until the last five minutes of the game.
The Hogs were down but not giving any room for the Wildcats to score. At around four minutes left on the clock, Humboldt goalie Zack Gamble received a penalty after reacting to a less-than-savory hit from one of the Wildcats.
“We may lose on the scoreboard, but we send that other team back to where they came from hurtin’,” Gamble said. “This season, we’re not underdogs– we’re like the junkyard dogs. The one thing every team has said about us is we never quit.”
The Hogs only have twelve members on their team, leaving only one sub. The Wildcats continuously pulled from athletes on the bench while the Hogs gave them sixty minutes of hell. With Gamble out on penalty, there were no subs. River Galas, another defender, quickly swapped out stick and pads to fill the Gamble-sized hole in front of the net. The final score of 1-13 was a vast improvement from Wednesday’s game.
“It was one of our closer games,” Hunter Hartman said. “Chico is normally a really good team, so it was cool to see this game be a close one. It’s really hard with no subs. We’re definitely gassed. The better half of our game is usually the second half since we’re used to being gassed and the other team isn’t.”
The team is already getting psyched for the next game on April 9 against the UC Santa Cruz’s Banana Slugs. Substitute coach Sam Barton thinks the team is improving and makes up for a lack of players.
“These kids got some good fight in them,” said Barton. “These guys are working hard, they got three more games left, and Santa Cruz has always been a good rival game.”
