By
Jeff Lund
Arizona Daily Wildcat
For the Arizona men's Lacrosse team, spring break was far from a vacation. The Laxcats did plenty of learning, and will look to put those lessons to work Saturday against No. 9 Auburn at Laxcat Coliseum.
The No. 10 Laxcats are coming off a road trip that had a promising beginning, but hit a serious speed bump as numerous players were suspended for violation of team rules, and those suspensions subsequently led to two defeats to close out the California trip.
"We are slowly getting back into form," head coach Mickey-Miles Felton said. "Everyone is looking to redeem themselves. It is still a little awkward, but after a few more practices it will get back on an even keel."
Senior Tommy Christian said he respects the coaches decision to suspend players that broke the rules.
"I think the team and coaches have put it behind us," Christian said. "I have respect for coach for sticking to his rules."
After five games in nine days, Felton's squad has had almost a full week to prepare for Auburn.
Christian said he is looking forward to the game against Auburn, and hopes the team can return to its dominant form.
"Everyone is dissatisfied about the trip," Christian said. "It will be nice to be back on our home field."
Just being back at home won't be enough to ensure a victory, however. The Auburn Tigers are 5-1 and have won three straight, their most recent being a 21-3 mauling of Alabama last week.
"We don't know anything about them really," senior Bryan Moore said of Auburn.
What the Laxcats do know is that, contrary to the their own schedule, the Tigers have played four top-25 teams that have the edge in terms of playing big games.
Moore said after the soft early schedule, playing against tougher teams such as UC Santa Barbara and Whittier, the Wildcats were forced to play more completely and admitted their opponents caught them a little off guard.
"We aren't used to getting beat," Moore said. "We had been playing teams and beating on them. I had to play more defense than I was used to compared to the first games."
Senior Justin Taglianetti said he is excited to be playing another ranked team, especially at home.
"We are really excited to play them," Taglianetti said. "They are a high-ranked team."
Taglianetti said he feels the current two-game skid might be good for the team.
"We were cocky," he said. "We are a good team, we know that. I think (the losses) will help us beat good teams. We are going to go out there and show everyone that we are still the team to beat."
Although coach Felton is confident lessons can and should be taken from the two losses, he doesn't believe the team needed to lose in order to learn from the situation.
"We didn't play well against UCSB, but we won," Felton said. "After the game I told the team 'There is your reality check.' The losses, I don't think, were good. You can get the lesson without losing. The only thing you learn from losing is how to lose."
