The 2023 boys lacrosse campaign ended in the Sectional Semifinals, suffering an 18-4 defeat at the hands of the Andrew Thunderbolts. Ethan Nydegger believes that the team’s new coach “can take the team in the right direction,” one he feels the team has been needing. Nydegger is one of six seniors on the team, a contrast from last year’s upperclassmen heavy squad.

After finishing the 2023 season with a 10-7 record, the Bloomington Normal boys lacrosse team saw significant changes in the off-season with the appointment of head coach Mr. Jackson Fischer and the graduation of several key players.

A 2023 Illinois Wesleyan graduate, Fischer is the program’s fourth coach in as many seasons. 

Fischer inherits the role from Ron Thein, who served as an assistant coach since the program’s inception in 2020 before taking over as head coach last season. 

While Fischer has limited coaching experience, coaching some of the roster on Peoria’s club team for just one season, he brings playing experience to the program. 

As a member of the IWU Titans lacrosse team, Fischer was a three-year letterman on defense. At Wheaton Warrenville South High School, he lettered each season, captaining the team and earning defensive “Most Valuable Player” honors as a senior while twice earning DuPage All-Conference recognition.

Fischer will have his work cut out for him, though, as he is “not familiar with the team.”

“[It’s] kind of [like] walking into the darkness,” Fischer said. “I’m going to meet a lot of these guys for the first time.”

But he isn’t the only one with that issue, as the team, a co-op between Community, West and Bloomington, graduated nine seniors last season and welcomes in a host of new players. 

That unfamiliarity, Fischer said, he thinks can be quickly overcome.

The rookie coach’s practice plans involve drills that require the roster “to work together,” Fischer said, to “be cohesive,” and team-building activities where the athletes “learn about each other.”

“You don’t have to be friends in school,” Fischer said, but “becoming familiar with each other is going to be very important.”

Fischer’s emphasis on the team’s “mesh,” he said, won’t detract from practicing the game’s “real” aspects. 

“I plan on doing a lot of live play, a lot of scrimmages, contact, you know real situational drills,” the coach said, “where we’re actually playing… [the team] learns from their mistakes, and gets better.”

The balance, Fischer hopes, will result in breaking Lincoln Way West’s two-year win streak against BN’s Purple Iron Cats. 

The April 20 road contest has personal implications for the new coach. 

“Lincoln Way is one of my old rivals back [from] when I was in high school,” Fischer said, rivals that Fischer never lost to in high school. 

“I’m hoping to keep that streak alive as a coach.”

Fischer must fill the void left by the graduation of last season’s top performers, Alec Freeman and Cort Welch, to achieve that goal.

Freeman and Welch averaged two goals a game last season and had been the team’s scoring leaders since the 2021 season.

Last season, Freeman scored 38 goals for BN Lacrosse and had 18 assists. Welch had 36 goals and 14 assists.

Bloomington senior Ethan Nydegger and junior Ryan Baxter look to increase their roles on offense this season.

Nydegger, as a junior, netted 15 goals in 13 games, boasting a 1.2 goal/game average.

As a sophomore, Baxter scored in just over half of his appearances last season, finishing with nine scores and five assists. 

Senior goalie Quinn Butler is looking to Andrew Bair to add an offensive spark this season. 

“He’s got a tough shot to stop,” Butler said. “He’s really leading the offense out there.”

Bair was third in shots on goal last season with 57, behind Freeman and Welch, but struggled to convert his attempts, netting just six in 17 contests. 

Fischer is inheriting a defense that has some holes to fill as well.  

Gone are Cameron Thein and Max Witzemann, backfielders who tallied just under 30 takeaways last season. 

Senior Levi Hughes looks primed to step up on defense; last season, Hughs recorded 22 ground balls for the team.

BN Lacrosse will benefit from the addition of first-year player Chase Witt, a contributor on the Ironmen Football program’s special teams. 

Witt, a senior, expects the physicality of football to translate to success on the lacrosse field. 

He is not alone, as nearly one-third of the roster played football for their schools in the fall.  

Butler will be back in the net for the Purple Iron Cats this season. 

Butler, minding goal since his sophomore campaign, notched a .63 save percentage last season, a significant stat in a game where a clip of .50, Butler said, is considered successful.

“The balls are coming at you at 100 miles per hour eight yards out,” Butler said. “Seeing the ball and stopping it is the main job. And it’s difficult.”

The team opens the season with a test in their March 20 matchup against the Lockport Porters. Last season, the Porters shut out the Purple Iron Cats with a 17-0 offensive onslaught. 

While the team’s schedule sees roster travel to the Chicagoland suburbs and St. Louis Metro East area to play opponents like Oak Park, Plainfield and O’Fallon, Central Illinois’ opponents are formidable in their own right. 

“All the local teams,” Fischer said, “Dunlap, Washington, Central Catholic, they’re all good.” 

It is Washington that the team expects to pose the biggest challenge this seaon; on April 4, BN Lacrosse look to avenge last season’s 14-2 and 11-0 losses to the Panthers. 

Washington, Fischer said, has “been a longtime competitor.” 

In the team’s three seasons, they have yet to beat the Panthers. In those six losses, Washington has outscored the Purple Iron Cats 76-9, shutting the team out 10-0 in their last meeting.

Bloomington Normal Lacrosse opens up play March 16 at Lemont High School at 3 p.m.

Last season, the team’s campaign ended in the Sectional Semifinals, suffering an 18-4 defeat at the hands of the Andrew Thunderbolts.

Ethan Nydegger believes that the team’s new coach “can take the team in the right direction,” one he feels the team has been needing.