COLLEGE PREVIEW 2014 NCAA DIVISION II MEN’S PRESEASON PLAYER OF YEAR
Vanishing Act M
Mercyhurst’s Andrew Wagner has found the resolve to make great attackmen disappear
By Jac Coyne
ercyhurst men’s lacrosse coach Chris Ryan had just given his team a scouting report for the second game of the 2011 season, a spring break contest against Mars Hill in North Carolina. He made the bold decision to assign the opponent’s top attackman,
eventual Deep South Conference Player of the Year Tyler Farmer, to a freshman defenseman. But Andrew Wagner was nowhere to be found, and Ryan did not know why. Did the rookie lose his nerve? Was he not ready for the challenge?
“I went on a run with a buddy to find the hotel that my parents were at so we could get a little lift in,” Wagner recalled. “Our hotel didn’t have a gym.” Yes, just hours before his second college game and one of his toughest assignments of the season, Wagner went on a three-mile run to then lift weights. “It’s one of the things that normal Division II lacrosse players don’t do,” Ryan said. From that game on, Wagner has been the best defensive player for the Lakers. Using his burly frame and freaky strength and athleticism, Wagner has risen to every challenge. He held Farmer to just one assist, as Mercyhurst won 12-6. Since then, Wagner has been tasked with matching up with the opponent’s top offensive threat. The results? He’s a two-time USILA Division II Defensive Player of the Year for the Lakers, who have gone 31-2 over the last two seasons. Wagner’s stats don’t necessarily blow you away. He plays mostly positional defense and would rather grind his opponent into the ground than steal the ball.
Wagner, a senior, already is a two-time Schmeisser Award winner as the top defenseman in Division II.
He’s also lonely at times. “The numbers don’t jump off the page because not many people go around him on the field,” Ryan said. “If the ball’s never around you, it’s hard to knock down a pass.”
Despite the accolades, Wagner finds motivation in two shortfalls. The first
70 LACROSSE MAGAZINE February 2014 >> A Publication of US Lacrosse
©KEVIN TUCKER (AW); ©LEE WEISSMAN (MP)
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