Chapman lacrosse’s secret weapon? Bringing fun back to the field
Photo Courtesy of Shane Pase
Sophomore communications studies major Cody Shevelson is a staff sports writer and member of the Chapman men’s lacrosse team. This is the first edition of a series of articles where athletes at the school write about their experiences.
Starting off 1-2 was definitely not something the defending Southwestern Lacrosse Conference Champions had in mind for the 2025 season.
After two close losses to California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo and Colorado State University in weeks one and two, the boys were finally able to pull out an upset win against the University of Colorado, Boulder on Feb. 23 at home on Wilson Field.
The Chapman men's lacrosse team is in the midst of a rebuilding year after losing 17 players due to graduations, unfortunate circumstances and prior commitments.
When the team voted five players to become captain, there was only one question on my mind: What was the identity of this team going to be? I was scared that with many leaders, the team was going to be pulled in too many directions based on what each captain had envisioned for this season.
I think this showed during the first two games.
The first game was a heartbreaking double overtime loss to Cal Poly, a team we had beaten in a scrimmage this past fall and felt confident in our abilities to beat again. Maybe we were too confident because the overall story of this game was simple: if you let one player beat you, he will. Ryan Sanders of Cal Poly ended the game with seven goals and two assists for a combined nine points on the day, accounting for 40% of all goals and assists tallied by the Mustangs.
The second game against Colorado State was a nail biting, 13-11 loss. We showed improvement in this game, but still lacked the development of our identity. Negativity and finger pointing ran rampant on the Chapman sideline and it really did show through our gameplay. We were trying to control the uncontrollable.
The day after the Colorado State game our head coach, Joel Kallas, called a team meeting. His intentions unclear, all the boys piled into the athletic classrooms and awaited what he had to say. Instead of pulling up practice or scout film, he looked around the classroom and posed all of us a question: What did we want this program to be?
At first there was silence. Everyone was unsure of who was going to speak and what to even say. We didn’t want to get too personal without understanding the tone of the conversation to come.
Freshman short stick defensive midfielder Dash Richardson surprised everyone when he raised his hand to speak. He talked about the legacy left by past players at Chapman, emphasizing the importance of honoring them through hard work, rather than disrespecting the program they built for us.
Once Richardson finished, the floodgates opened. Player after player raised their hand offering suggestions of what they wanted this program to be. All the while Kallas stood at the front of the room jotting down every thought that was spewed out of a mouth.
Caring, consistency, grace, hard work, no regrets, focus and support were the words that filled the page of notes. But one word stood out from the rest.
Fun.
Going into the game against the University of Colorado things felt different than the two previous weeks. Instead of focusing on the challenge ahead of us and psyching ourselves out before we touched the field, we focused on the fact that we got to be outside on such a beautiful day, playing lacrosse with the team we loved.
Throughout warmups the boys were buzzing. Players smiling, laughing, singing to the music blasting through the field speakers. We were having a great time.
During all of the ups and downs of the game, one thing stayed consistent. The feeling on the sideline, whether up or down three goals, was overwhelmingly positive.
If one of our players made a mistake, we simply shrugged it off and didn’t allow ourselves to dwell on it. We focused on the next play and supporting our brothers out on the field.
With fourfour minutes and 47 seconds left on the clock, we were down 12-13. Needing a big run of goals I took my position out on the faceoff mark and awaited the referees commands.
Down, set, whistle.
I quickly clamped over the ball and sent it through my legs to a place I knew only I could get it. I ran over to the ball, picked it up and gave it to my defense for them to then transition to the offense. With one minute left in the game, senior midfielder Josh Vomund took a powerful step downfield and sent a rocket flying at the top left corner of the cage for a Chapman goal, and a tied up score.
A quick win and drawn penalty on the next faceoff put our offense in a position to put this game away with one final goal. With only one minute left we wouldn’t want to score too fast and give Boulder a chance to win one last faceoff and score with seconds left.
Sophomore midfielder Rocco Reginelli made dreams become reality with his right handed step down shot, placed just between the top of the goalies stick and the crossbar.
The scoreboard now read: Chapman: 14, Boulder 13. There were 38 seconds and one faceoff left in the game.
I took a deep breath to calm my nerves and began to make my way out onto the field. I got down into position, the ref blew his whistle, and the last seconds began to tick off the clock. Knowing all I needed to do was keep the ball on the ground made it easier for me to compartmentalize my job at that moment. I lost the final clamp, but I was able to play good enough defense that my Boulder opponent was unable to pick up the ground ball.
Sophomore defender Tyler Pandis ran in and scooped it clean, leading to a Chapman possession and an effective end to the game.
Once the final seconds had rolled off the clock, all the boys on the field and the sidelined made an immediate beeline to our goalie, freshman Ryan Shugart, to congratulate him on such an amazing game.
As we made our way back to the sideline, our coach only had one question for us: Are we having fun now?!