At dusk, on a small patch of grass by the tennis courts, on a field with no lights that has to be shared with other teams, practices a team of champions. It is the 2012 Cal State Fullerton lacrosse team.If you’re looking to follow a school sport with a tradition of winning championships, then look no further than lacrosse. The lacrosse team at CSUF has won three straight Division II Southwestern Lacrosse Conference Championships, and they are working hard on No. 4.

“I see us being good,” said senior captain Ryan Forrest. “We have a tough schedule, but we’ll be working hard to bring us a fourth championship in a row.”

Head Coach Kyle Morrison is in his third year of leading CSUF lacrosse, and he has led them to all three of their championships. He played two years of lacrosse at San Diego State University before getting the head coaching job here.

Coach Morrison is optimistic when looking forward to this year’s team. “We’ve been good so far, the team is coming together nicely,” he said.

The team was put at a definite disadvantage to open the year when the first two scrimmages were canceled.

According to Coach Morrison, the first scrimmage was canceled because the team didn’t have a field reservation due to the school not letting it know until it was too late. The second scrimmage was not played because of rain, and it didn’t want to chance getting in trouble with school officials for causing any damage.

The third scrimmage will be a tough test. The Titans will be going against the University of California, Santa Barbara, ranked 11th in Division I. The Titans are ranked 14th in Division II.

Coach Morrison feels this will be a tough test for the team. “We will run through every offense and defense,” Morrison said. “We have to make sure we’re all good to go, working together and on the same page.”

For the team to be successful this year, Morrison feels players such as Forrest, Chris Cole and Christian Wheeler will have to step up and play to their capabilities for the Titans to be champions again this year.

So far he has seen marked improvement in the play of Paul Morgan, Richard Morrison and Trevor Burns, adding depth and versatility to the team.

Coach Morrison believes that staying out of the penalty box will be important to the overall success of the team.

“Any team that manages to stay out of the penalty box and capitalizes on man advantage situations will win games,” he said.

Another part of any good Lacrosse team is the goaltending.  Goalies can make or break games, since their quick reflexes are the last stand against any goal being scored.  The Titans feel they have a good one in second-year goalie Trevor Burns.

“Goaltending is a huge deal, it always is; they’re obviously our last defense,” said Morrison.

Burns, a sophomore who attended Esperanza High School, started out at CSUF as an attacker, but was given a chance to play goalie.

“The opportunity to play goalie gave me some experience,” said Burns. “So they started me out in goal last season and we won the SLC Championship.”

Assistant coach Mike Ansel graduated from CSUF last year and is helping mold this year’s team.  Ansel likes what he sees in this year’s Titan lacrosse team.

“I think we will surprise some people this year,” Ansel said. “We have a lot of good young players, and I think they’ll go farther than they’ve ever gone.”