The Eastern Illinois Lacrosse Club is currently at its strongest point since its reformation approximately five years ago, according to the team’s captain and founder.

Dan Dudley, a senior sports management major, said the team was considered “inactive” when he got to Eastern in 2007.

“(The club was) inactive. There was a little bit of money left in an account from a team that was constructed a few year’s back,” said Dudley. “I revamped the program and started it in 2007.”

Dudley said that most of the players on the current team have played lacrosse either in high school or elsewhere before coming to Eastern, but that a few players with experience in other sports have also found their way to the team.

One of those players is James Thompson, a junior communication studies major.

Thompson said he was recruited to Eastern to compete in track but is no longer on that team. He decided to give lacrosse a try and is now in his second year with the club.

“(Track) wasn’t really for me, so I was looking for a new sport,” said Thompson. “I was talking during Panther Palooza out on the quad. They were trying to get people to sign up, and I did. I picked up a stick and I haven’t stopped since; I absolutely love it.”

Dudley said that in addition to setting up a table at Panther Palooza, he and several of the other veteran player shave recruited interest just by carrying their sticks with them around campus and having people who played in high school inquire about the team.

Another player who is on the lacrosse team despite not having played in high school is junior health studies major and goalie Craig Duzan.

Duzan said he played offensive line in high school and college football before transferring to Eastern his second semester of college, and he said his larger body from was one of the reasons he was asked to play goalie.

“My body makes half the saves,” said Duzan. “I’ve got a wide frame, so I take up more of the goal.”

He added netminders get more bumps and bruises from getting hit with the quarter pound ball traveling at speeds of up to 90 mph.

“I actually got a concussion the other week,” said Duzan. “The ball hit me in the temple area of the helmet, and I blacked out and went down for a second.”

Duzan described his worst non-brain or -groin related injuries as no more than extra large bruises.

“I’ve gotten hit in the shin multiple times (in one game),” explained Duzan as he motioned to his lower leg. “It got to where my shin was just one big bump.”

The lacrosse club’s regular season is in the spring, but its fall ball record is 2-0 so far and its next game is this at 2 p.m. Saturday against the Rose Hulman Institute of Technology’s club team on the intramural fields behind O’Brien Stadium.

Brad Kupiec can be reached at 581-7944 or bmkupiec@eiu.edu