May 22, 2008

by Jac Coyne, Lacrosse Magazine Online Staff

For Luke Lemon, Sunday's game against Salisbury is all about revenge.

Lemon, a junior long pole for Cortland, was blindsided during a loose scramble against the Sea Gulls in last year's NCAA Division III men's lacrosse championship - a hit that knocked Lemon out of the game for two quarters with a concussion.

But it's not about the hit. Lemon understands that's part of the game.

He'd rather avenge the loss.

"No personal revenge or anything like that," said Lemon. "I just want that 'W' back."

A lot of teams don't get the chance for redemption, but fortunately for Lemon, the national championship game Sunday at Gillette Stadium in Foxboro, Mass., features Cortland against Salisbury for the third consecutive year.

In 2006, Lemon's freshman year, the Red Dragons stunned Salisbury - and the lacrosse world - by edging the heavily favored Sea Gulls, 13-12, in overtime. Last season, Lemon said he was "out of sorts" sitting on the bench as Salisbury cruised to a 15-9 win.

Now it's time for the rubber match.

While Lemon has played a key part in both championship games so far, his arrival at Cortland was anything but predetermined. Unlike the 40 players on Cortland's 46-man roster who played high school lacrosse in New York and dreamed of playing for the legendary program, Lemon's matriculation was due to the pervasiveness of Red Dragon Nation in lacrosse.

Born and raised in Colorado Springs, Lemon attended the Air Academy, just like his two brothers before him. But unlike them, he did not attend the U.S. Air Force Academy thereafter. It didn't seem like a good fit, though USAFA coach Fred Acee recruited the 6-foot, 200-pound Lemon to help fill out his back line.

"I wasn't sure if I wanted to do the whole military thing," admitted Lemon. "I was talking to Coach Acee about it, and he said I should definitely just check out Cortland, because it is a great school. That's how I originally got into it."

Acee graduated from Cortland in 1963 before launching his 40-plus year college coaching career. As it turned out, that wasn't the only connection. Lemon's former high school coach at the Air Academy coached at Ohio Wesleyan with Lelan Rogers, the Red Dragons' coach at the time of Lemon's final prep season.

"I contacted Lelan Rogers, sent him my video, came out for my recruiting trip, and he got me hooked," said Lemon.

Despite being a Colorado kid on a team full of New Yorkers, Lemon immersed himself in the school and lacrosse program.

"There was a transition period, because I was from Colorado and I didn't know anyone. But as soon as I got here, I was talking to the lacrosse guys, and we immediately became friends," Lemon said. "I didn't really get homesick, because I didn't want to be home. I wanted to experience something other than Colorado. The transition period was different, but at the same time, I liked it. I had no idea what lacrosse was like on the East Coast, so I just absorbed everything I could."

It didn't hurt that the Red Dragons finished that season with a national championship.

Things changed, however. Steve Beville signed on as head coach at Cortland, forcing Lemon to adapt to his fourth coach in three years. But Beville knew he had a good player who had a chance to be a great one.

"From an athletic, work ethic and attitude standpoint, he had it," said Beville. "He was missing some of the little things on the stick-work side and recognizing slides. He wasn't quite there, but you could see tremendous potential right from the get-go.

"We had a long talk at the end of last year about some of the things he needed to work on over the summer to get better for this season. He's really picked up his game as the season has gone along and been a tremendous player for us."

Lemon has been a rock on defense, nabbing 33 ground balls, while also managing to score a goal and set up another. His contributions are best illustrated, however, by Cortland's 18-1 record and third straight national championship game appearance.

"This is my third time going back," he said. "I know what to expect. I know how to deal with the crowd and what is going on around me and adapt better to that. It's different, though, because it's revenge. We won it my freshman year, but we lost it last year. It's just sweet revenge. That's the name of the game right now."