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The Yale men’s lacrosse program has been through plenty of adversity over the better part of the past year.

From the fateful March practice when Director of Athletics Victoria Chun informed the team that the lacrosse season had been canceled to the time of press for our February edition, coach Andy Shay had yet to meet with his full program. The Bulldogs had no physical fall season, and much of the roster did not enroll during the first semester of the 2020-21 school year.

In that time, Shay has done little coaching outside of Zoom calls and occasional messages to his team.

“If there’s any clarity, it’s that I realize that I’m not mentally equipped to do anything else [other than coach],” Shay joked. “I told my wife, now I'm not even going to retire. Once I go into retirement, they’re going to bury me on the field, as far as I’m concerned.”

There are few Division I coaches more committed to their craft than Shay, who enters his 12th season at the helm of the Yale program. Since 2010, he’s created one of the most recognizable team cultures in the sport.

When fans and commentators refer to Yale men’s lacrosse, similar clichés are shared.

Toughness. Grit. Blue-collar. Accountability. Team-First Attitude.

The challenge for Shay and his coaching staff throughout 2020 and into the 2021 preseason was daunting on many accounts. Jackson Morrill and Lucas Cotler, both off to Denver as graduate students after Yale did not permit its seniors to return. Matt Gaudent went off to the Premier Lacrosse League. TD Ierlan is also now in a state of limbo, telling US Lacrosse Magazine that he intends to transfer to Denver if the Ivy League does not play spring sports — a league decision that still appears to be pending.

So, what will Shay do about leadership? How could the coaching staff instill that culture in incoming players and maintain it for veterans returning for another season?

“We would do Zoom meetings in the summer and the fall,” Shay said. “By the time September rolled around, I didn’t want to be on a Zoom with anybody. We needed to be a little creative, find a way to kind of introduce [freshmen] to what we’re about as quickly as possible. Without even the fall to have experience, these guys have no idea how we practice or anything.”

Shay knew that with the unorthodox year his program had experienced, he needed an equally unorthodox approach.

When players met on Zoom calls over the winter months, Shay had homework ready. He instructed his team to help write the “Book of Yale Lacrosse,” a figurative story about the culture present in New Haven.

Within the book would be 12-13 “chapters” titled after crucial aspects of the team philosophy. The first chapter was titled “One” in a nod to a common phrase, Only Need Everybody, used in many locker rooms across the country. After that came chapters like “Accountability,” “Humility,” “Process,” “Details,” etc.

Shay’s vision, he hoped, was for players to find external sources of inspiration — speeches from professional athletes like J.J. Watt, excerpts from the Doc Rivers documentary on Netflix, magazine articles on Michael Collins’ role on the Apollo 11 shuttle crew — and place them in the appropriate chapters.

Once complete, the “Book of Yale Lacrosse” would serve as a reminder to returners of the mentality the previous class had helped foster and an introduction to the standard to which the freshmen would be held.

“This is a way to kind of introduce [freshmen] to what we’re about as quickly as possible,” Shay said. “We normally do it kind of organically. We’ll end up maybe losing a game in the spring and we kind of go back to our ethos. Without even the fall to have experience, these guys have no idea how we practice or anything.”

It may have taken a few tries to explain his plan, but Shay eventually had his players eager to learn more about the culture of Yale lacrosse.

“If you were sitting through some of the meetings, you’d understand,” junior star Matt Brandau said. “We’re just trying to find different examples and texts about what makes us what we are, and it was really fun. The clips that stood out to me were from ‘Remember the Titans,’ ‘Miracle,’ ‘Friday Night Lights,’ that kind of thing.”

For a program that has advanced to the NCAA championship game in consecutive seasons, Yale men’s lacrosse has faced maybe its greatest challenge during the COVID-19 pandemic. As has every program in college lacrosse, the Bulldogs have had to adapt.

Shay has helped to instill his culture into the next generation of Yale lacrosse players. There may be no distinct end to their figurative book, but he hopes to write one last chapter with a second championship in three seasons come May.

TOP RETURNERS

TD Ierlan, FO, Sr.

Ierlan already owns just about every faceoff record in NCAA history, and as long as the Ivy League plays a spring season, he will be a focal point in New Haven. He now has 1,159 faceoffs in his three-plus-year career, and he returns after winning 84 of 110 faceoffs in 2020 (76.4 percent).

Matt Brandau, A, Soph.

With the departures of Jackson Morrill and Matt Gaudet, Brandau becomes the biggest threat on the Yale offense. He dropped 74 points (50 goals and 24 assists) in his freshman season in 2019 and had 16 goals in four games last season. He’ll be looked to both facilitate the offense and score timely goals.

Chris Fake, Sr., D

Fake burst onto the scene his freshman year, helping Yale to the national title. Now a senior, he has 59 ground balls and 32 caused turnovers in his Bulldogs career. Fake will be one of the anchors of a defense that could rank among the nation’s best.

KEY ADDITION

Brady McDermott, Jr., A

McDermott is poised to have a breakout season with the voids in the Yale offense. The fourth attackman on the 2020 offense has only appeared in six career games, but boasts a toughness and skillset that Shay compared to Gaudet.

ENEMY LINES

“They’re just solid. That group is built well. They play great defense and win faceoffs. With a couple guys moving on, they have a few holes to fill. If you can continue to have that success at the X, it’s going to create a lot of momentum moving forward.”

NUMBERS GAME

378

Combined career points by former Yale stars Jackson Morrill and Matt Gaudet. The duo became one of Yale’s most electric in program history. Morrill transferred to Denver following the cancelation of the season and Gaudet made his presence known in the PLL this summer. The Bulldogs’ offense will look much different in 2021.