Marquis’ Great Danes season ends
Koleton Marquis and the UAlbany Great Danes overcame a slow start to the season to win the NCAA America East Championship for the second straight year. Courtesy State University of New York at Albany
One lacrosse season ended last week for Kahnawa’kehró:non laxer Koleton Marquis after the State University of New York at Albany (UAlbany) Great Danes were eliminated from the NCAA Tournament, but another one is just around the corner with the Peterborough Lakers.
This season was undoubtedly a successful one for the Great Danes program despite the loss to Cornell in the first round of the NCAA tournament on May 11.
The team started 3-8 during their regular season, before rattling off four straight wins to send them to the America East Championship tournament.
There, they beat two teams that had their number during the regular season: the University of Maryland, Baltimore County (UMBC) Retrievers - winning 9-7 - and the Bryant University Bulldogs - winning 12-7.
That qualified them for the NCAA Tournament, winning the Opening Round - the equivalent of a play-in round for the main tournament - 11-9 against the Siena College Saints.
Ultimately, they lost 15-6 to the number one ranked program in the country, the Cornell Big Red.
For Marquis, the Great Danes’ turnaround and postseason success happened because the team got better and better as the season progressed, and suddenly the close losses became wins.
“It felt great, obviously not the start of the season we wanted, but we stuck together and everyone improved, which made us a complete team at the end,” said Marquis.
“As the season goes on, everyone gains more confidence, and in my case, I started at middle and a couple of games in I started at attack, so the little transition period is always tough, but once we got chemistry as a group, we all started to perform.”
Winning the program’s second straight America East Championship in the two rematches does not happen without that improvement and without playing hard every minute of every game, Marquis said,
To him, that was the main difference in their performance compared to the regular season matchups against UMBC and Bryant.
“We struggled with this early on in our season, which cost us multiple games. We matured as a team throughout the year and learned what it felt like to lose early, so we used that as motivation to win some big games,” said Marquis.
That motivation came in handy against UMBC, as the Great Danes mounted a comeback in the America East opener, being down 3-0 and 6-3 at certain points in the game, before Marquis scored UAlbany’s fourth goal to start the comeback and, ultimately, their ninth and final goal.
Things were more straightforward against Bryant in the America East finals and against Siena College, where the Great Danes never trailed in either game.
Against Cornell, things started out pretty well for UAlbany, trailing 5-3 at halftime, before the NCAA’s top team scored four unanswered goals in the third quarter.
“We knew we could hang in with teams like that, but they were a very good team. which is why they were favoured to win,” said Marquis.
After a year that saw him score 25 goals, Marquis now turns his attention to Major Series Lacrosse and the Peterborough Lakers.
Marquis said going straight from one season to the next helps keep him in game shape.
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“It helps me a lot to stay in shape and always in lax mode,” said Marquis.
“I’m pumped. The main goal is to beat the Six Nations Chiefs.”
Those Chiefs will be the Lakers’ opponents in their home opener at the Peterborough Memorial Center at 8 p.m. on Thursday, May 22. Their season starts the night before in a road game against Brooklin Lacrosse Club.
