Zack Romberger, a freshman studying communication, came to Wheaton College with a mission. While his fellow freshmen were busy meeting with their advisors or studying how to open their CPO box, Romberger was making plans to resurrect men’s lacrosse on campus.
Wheaton’s most recent men’s lacrosse team disbanded about eight years ago because they lacked a coach, but Romberger, who played lacrosse in high school, was eager to keep playing in college. First step: find a coach. Romberger reached out to alumni from past Wheaton club teams for connections to a potential coach.
He was put in touch with Jacob Taylor, who agreed to coach the team.
“He was super interested because he was moving back in the area,” said Romberger, captain of the revived lacrosse team. “I chatted it up with him, and really loved the guy. He was really interested and started coming to practice. It’s been really fun having him around.”
Taylor played lacrosse for Wabash College in Indiana, and has lots of experience coaching college teams. “He plays around with us at practice, and he’s got a crazy shot,” Romberger said.
“He’s been a coach of other intercollegiate teams as well,” added sophomore Rustin Vanker, who played lacrosse for five years before joining Wheaton’s team. “He’s been helping a lot of the newer players who don’t know some of the fundamentals. They don’t know how to cradle their stick or do certain passes, and he’s been helping them with that and even the more intricate stuff.”
“He’s a great fit for the program,” agreed Romberger.
With a coach ready to go, the hardest part of rebuilding Wheaton men’s lacrosse was finding players to join the team. The team wasn’t approved in time to participate in the club fair in September, which most clubs and extracurricular groups use to gain new members at the beginning of the school year. Much of their advertising was word-of-mouth, such as putting posters up around campus, which made it difficult to draw interest from the student body.
“Wheaton students have a lot of things they’re engaged with,” Romberger said. “There have been a lot of guys who were originally interested, but then didn’t follow through just because they weren’t entirely sure how legit we were going to be and what exactly it was going to look like.”
As players began to express interest, the team recruited nine players with a range of experience – for some, it was their first time playing competitive lacrosse. They expect that next year, when they’re able to participate in the club fair and the Mastodon March – a club parade during freshmen orientation – they’ll be able to recruit more players.
The players are excited about the opportunity to play lacrosse in college. “It’s also been super exciting, just the fact that it’s even happening,” said Vanker. “Creating it has been difficult, and I know Zack’s taken the brunt of that, but it is exciting to even have the possibility of having a team, and now it’s not even a possibility, it’s a definite.”
This year, as the team gets started again, they have not played in many official games. Instead, they’ve focused on scrimmages throughout the year. The hope is that next year, with the basic – but time-consuming – logistics of establishing the team out of the way, they will field a competitive team to play with other schools.
The previous lacrosse club had leftover equipment that this year’s team was able to use, but new safety requirements meant they had to get new helmets and shoulder pads.
“We got equipment and everything,” said Romberger. “It’s been so fun.”
Because lacrosse is a club team, rather than an official Wheaton athletics team, they have to raise their own funding for equipment, competition fees and other expenses. Other club teams include ultimate frisbee and ice hockey. They are able to access some funding from the previous lacrosse team but need to manage their own finances.
“We’ll be able to raise some of that through fan shirts next year, as well,” added Vanker. “Once we actually have games that we’re playing, and parents will want to show up and support, we’ll be able to sell some of those and make our own money on that.”
Another difficulty while starting the club was trying to coordinate practice times. Like many other students, the lacrosse team is involved in other extracurricular activities in addition to their academics. This season, they’ve landed on two practices a week at North Harrison Field, behind the Wheaton Tennis Courts.
“We’re working on a lot of drills, fundamentals, just getting everyone throwing the sticks around,” said Romberger.
All the logistics and practice is paying off – the team recently scrimmaged Wheaton’s women’s lacrosse team, and is playing DePaul University on April 19. The team already has its eyes set on next year, when they’ll have a fuller roster and a more extensive season. Romberger is looking forward to watching the team reestablish itself not just on campus, but with other schools and conferences where Wheaton men’s lacrosse will be playing.
“I would love to establish a rival in the next two or three years,” said Romberger. “That’d be super fun, I think, and yeah, who knows?”
As the team continues to practice, they have enjoyed how close they have become as a team. “I just love playing lacrosse, to be honest,” said Romberger. “Especially meeting new guys, too, who I never saw on campus. The next thing you know, they’re insane at lacrosse.”
Vanker agreed. “I think the community’s really cool,” he said. “It’s just a bunch of guys that love to be competitive and play. I also just love the sport and get to play it with my brother, which is probably my favorite part.”
