Sounds of laughter and chanting carry through the lobby of the DoubleTree hotel in Linthicum, Md. Guests in the hotel bar fix their eyes on the lounge adjacent to it, as do those entering the hotel through the sliding glass doors.

There sit 13 members of the Albany men’s lacrosse team, clad in purple jackets and khaki pants, fresh off a team dinner at Olive Grove before a matchup with UMBC the next day. They try to describe the Great Danes’ personality as they digest their chicken parm.

“Talking water bottle, go” senior Justin Zelen shouts. “Everyone say one word.”

Amid the chorus of voices, Zach Wolf grabs the water bottle and starts a game where each player adds a word to a sentence. After a couple turns, they start using a banana. Where did the banana come from?

Eventually, a group including junior Sean Eccles, senior Matt Perla, sophomore Mitch Laffin and senior Connor Fields produces this phrase followed by a round of applause.

“Our. Team. Is. Handsome. And. Super. Duper. Friendly. Which. Is. Really. Kinda. Amazing.”

Unconventional in its conception, that sentence does a good job of describing this Albany team, although the handsome part might be up for debate. Despite being the most hyped team in the country, the Great Danes are writing their own story.

Albany rattled off 10 straight wins to start 2018 and reached the No. 1 spot in all national polls, but lost Fields for a few weeks due to a sprained MCL. As a result, Albany fell to UMBC the next night and then Yale toward the end of the season. Still, the Great Danes broke through the glass ceiling years in the making — taking down Denver to reach their first final four.

But this team doesn’t act like one that’s feeling the pressure of a potential first national title in school history. The cast of personalities coach Scott Marr and his staff have put together are aiming not only to win, but also to enjoy the ride.

“We’re just a bunch of misfits,” Marr says. “We’re characters. Just a bunch of misfits that have a common goal, that’s all.”

These misfits live by two words.

Have fun.

After they finish passing the banana, the players continue recounting stories that put this team in its proper context.

“Our friend Sean Eccles does a good hoo-rah,” Perla says, referring to the pregame chant Eccles inherited from his brother, Derrick, who played for the Great Danes from 2013-16 and now serves as a volunteer assistant.

Sean Eccles’ teammates egg him on to recite the chant, which originated from a Rick Ross song in the locker room before a game against Stony Brook.

“Do it. Do it. Do it,” his teammates shout, still sitting in a hotel lounge. (He would save it for game day.)

The chatter moves to Marr’s air guitar skills, most memorably demonstrated while Derrick Eccles listened to a Lynyrd Skynyrd song in his headphones. Marr couldn’t hear it, but he still hit every riff.

.@UAlbanyMLax Scott Marr: Guitar Hero. Great Danes loose and relaxed ahead of #NCAALAX Quarterfinal vs @DU_MLAX pic.twitter.com/0xMu8Neep8

— Lax Sports Network (@LaxSportsNet) May 18, 2018

Marr’s love for classic rock has had an influence on Albany’s pregame playlist, but don’t try to pin this team to one genre.

“Creed. Katy Perry. Free Bird. Pearl Jam. Take Me Home, Country Roads,” Zelen says.

“Connor [Fields] always puts Meek Mill on before the game,” Laffin says. “Kodak Black at least a few times.”

Off the field, the Great Danes are a tight-knit group that enjoys every minute together.

That does not change when they take the field the next day at UMBC Stadium. With music blasting through the sound system, voices from the center of Albany’s stretching circle echo much like they did last night at the hotel. Players shout out jersey numbers, calling on their teammates to speak up.

“OK 2-3.”

“Smells like hot dogs 3-8,” Jack Burgmaster shouts, acknowledging the concession stand a few yards away.

At the end of the roll call, as is the case every game, one of the quietest players on the team has his turn.

“Take us home Kyle,” a teammate yells to senior Kyle McClancy.

“OK Danes!” he screams as the team huddles together.

Minutes later, Marr addresses his team for the final time before the game, delivering the mantra that has driven this team all season.

“Let’s go,” he says. “It’s a beautiful night. Let’s have some fun.”

Two hours later, for the first time all season, the levity abates. With Fields, the Tewaaraton candidate, and Justin Reh sidelined and UMBC playing error-free and opportunistic lacrosse, the Retrievers stun the Great Danes 11-7.

Despite the lackluster performance, Marr and his coaching staff — all former Great Danes players — never stop preaching to play loose and enjoy the moment.

That positivity has been part of the DNA of this Albany program since Marr became its first Division I coach in 2001, and it’s not going anywhere.

“It’s a culture,” Marr says. “It’s not a one-time thing. It’s something we preach to them all the time. These guys are college kids, and they’re playing lacrosse. There’s a lot of things going on in the world that are not positive, and they can’t take that for granted.”