Club lacrosse can make playoffs with win vs. Eastern

The CMU club lacrosse team plays its final game of the regular season with a playoff berth still in its grasp.

CMU enters the 1 p.m. Sunday game at Saline High School tied with Eastern for third place in its division, but the winner of this game makes it to the playoffs.

“Hopefully we will be the road warriors we have been all year and come away with a win to make into playoffs,” said coach Brad Thomas.

CMU has won three consecutive games against Eastern including last year’s 9-6 win.

“We expect to them to come out with a lot of intensity and enthusiasm to try to catch us off guard,” said senior defenseman Andrew Tillman.

CMU, 1-2 in the division and 4-5 overall, has won three consecutive games, including a must-win against rival Western Michigan last week.

Eastern is a scrappy team that plays with a lot of emotion and intensity, and CMU will have to focus on the task at hand, Thomas said.

That task is trying to stop one of the best athletes in the conference, junior midfielder Romaine Witt, who has 28 goals and 48 points on the season.

“You try to keep him away from the goalie because he is a great dodger. But if we can force him into uncomfortable situations and poor shooting angles, then we can be successful,” Thomas said.

Junior attacker Justin Schaufler and sophomore attacker Jeff Wood look to continue their scoring ways, as CMU has scored 37 goals in the last three games, one more than the team has scored in its first six games of the season.

“Offensively we will continue to exploit the mismatches, find the open guy and just finish,” Thomas said.

Playoff matchup

If CMU wins, they will play (8-3) Miami (OH) on Friday, May 1st.