Andrew Mudd, men's lacrosse

Men's lacrosse hasn't made a big splash in Southeast Missouri, but Andrew Mudd is optimistic the future holds better things for the sport locally.

Mudd, a junior at Southeast Missouri State University, heads up the Southeast Missouri State University club team again this year after leading the team last season.

Mudd, 21, played high school lacrosse at CBC in St. Louis, a region in which lacrosse has become popular at all levels.

Since his sophomore year in high school, Mudd has played competitively, and he plans to play much longer.

"It was a new sport in high school, and I wanted to try something new," he said. "It was hard to play, but the difficulty is what attracted me."

Lacrosse has grown to the second most popular sport at CBC, so the transition to Southeast -- where lacrosse is slowly being introduced -- was difficult.

"Down here it is tough to start, and the majority of the kids had played in St. Louis," he said. "But there are few guys from around here that are starting to learn."

Mudd said he hopes to attract a few students soon to be graduating from high school and attract them at Southeast to help continue to improve the team.

"We are building it up right now," Mudd said.

The Southeast club plays in the Great Rivers Lacrosse Conference against teams like Kansas, Iowa, Truman State University, Southwest Missouri State and Lindenwood.

The club went 1-1 in the preseason. The regular season begins March 1.

Southeast will play eight regular-season games and can advance to the conference tournament by finishing in the top six.

Southeast will host three meets, the first on March 8 against Lindenwood. The games will be held on the new intramurals field next to the campus tennis courts.

The team also practices on the new fields each Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday during the warm months. During the winter, the team uses the Student Recreation Center.

"We try to run drills and do some conditioning," Mudd said. "You're pretty much sprinting the whole time during a match, so we try to stay conditioned"

For the most part, Mudd has avoided major injuries but has suffered a few bruised ribs.

"I've seen torn ACLs, broken legs, broken arms, broken collar bones," he said. "I've been lucky to avoid any serious injuries. I've seen it all in this sport."

-- David Unterreiner