These were the words Rensselaer men’s lacrosse Head Coach Tom Korrie offered to describe his feelings after the Red Hawks’ 10-5 win over Oneonta State in both teams’ season openers at Harkness Field on Saturday, March 5. Korrie is justified in his malcontent, as RPI was far from flawless in the contest, committing an atrocious 23 turnovers and shooting 22 percent in the win.

“The turnovers are a real concern,” Korrie stated. “We have to cut turnovers in half. We had too many mental lapses to say it was a solid game. Our turnovers resulted in goals for [Oneonta] and cost us opportunities.”

Rensselaer also struggled on the man-up situations, scoring just one time in seven chances. The Red Hawks appeared jittery in scoring situations, forcing shots on the Red Dragon goaltender.

“We were careless and missed a number of opportunities which is unacceptable in the man-up situation,” Korrie said. “We have to be more patient and hit the shot when we have it.”

Despite all of their coach’s gripes, the Red Hawks still managed to pull out a comfortable victory where seven different players scored goals and seven players managed points.

Adam LoGuidice began this season the same way he ended last year, scoring early and often. The junior attackman opened the season scoring for the Red Hawks at the 8:23 mark in the first period after firing a shot from the left wing off a pass from freshman Alex MacDiarmid.

Chris Sherman tallied his first goal of the season less than a minute later as the senior midfielder took the face-off, drove the length of the field, and beat Oneonta goaltender Rick Freud.

The Red Dragons answered with a goal from Tim Burns, but LoGuidice would quickly increase the RPI lead back to a two goal margin. Ryan Frisch was the key to Rensselaer’s third goal, as he beat his defender, and attracted the attention of Freud and three Red Dragons defenders, which left LoGuidice standing alone in front of the net. Frisch then delivered a perfect pass to LoGuidice, who pushed the ball into the open net.

Each team managed one goal in the second quarter, making the score 4-2 at the break. That changed, however, with the start of the third quarter. RPI opened the session with three unanswered goals; one each by PJ McComb, LoGuidice, and MacDiarmid, which put the Red Hawks ahead 8-3 at the end of the quarter.

“We came out strong at the start of both halves,” Korrie said. “Starting quick is a great sign, now we have to learn how to maintain that momentum.”

The Red Dragons tried to put together a run in the fourth period, scoring two straight goals, but Ryan Michels and the Rensselaer defense proved to be up to the task. Michels tallied nine saves in net and the new RPI defense successfully cleared six out of seven attempts and was five out of six in the man-down sets. Goals from Peter Rice and Frisch sealed the game late from Rensselaer.

“We have five guys rotating in on defense which keeps us fresher,” Korrie said. “It is tough for guys to key on people for all four quarters; our endurance is not quite there yet.”

The team’s conditioning is another major concern facing the Red Hawks as they approach a very busy spring break schedule where they will play four games while bathing in the Florida sunshine. Korrie, however, is more focused on the team’s next opponent, Kings Point, who will visit Harkness Field on Thursday, March 10, at 4 pm.

“We are only looking one game ahead,” Korrie said. “The military is always stocked full of athletes. This is a funny game, you have to be prepared or you will get beat.”

Korrie is still concerned about how his squad will progress, but is confident his team can still win every game over break and on their schedule if they play up to their potential.