Northeast Grad Helps Jacksonville Defeat Navy in Lacrosse

The Jacksonville lacrosse team got one of its biggest wins in the school's short mens lacrosse history when they defeated Navy, 13-7, on Feb. 19 at EverBank Field, according to an article in The Capital.

The article also mentioned that former graduate Donovan Lange scored two goals and recorded two assists in the outing.

Patch caught up with Lange, a junior midfielder, to ask him how his college career is going.

Pasadena Patch: What has the experience of playing college lacrosse been like?
Donovan Lange: It has been really great. I am able to play lacrosse with a lot of really cool guys from all over. We all pretty much came to Florida for the same reasons—we can play lacrosse, it is close to the beach and there is always warm weather. It is nice not to have to go out and play in the cold. It has been a really neat experience.  

Pasadena Patch: What was beating Navy like since you are from the Annapolis area?
Lange: It was pretty awesome to beat a hometown team. Also, it was on national TV so everyone got to watch us. I was also playing against a couple of kids from my hometown that I played with in high school, so it was really cool.

Pasadena Patch: What is the team’s outlook for this season? And how have they done in the past?
Lange: Hopefully, we will win our conference—that’s our first goal. If we are able to win our conference, we can get a bid to the NCAA tournament. That would be really cool. My freshman year, we were a first-year program and did well considering that. Last year, we didn’t do as well as we wanted to. But this year we have some new coaching staff and it is going really well.

Pasadena Patch: Did playing lacrosse at Northeast prepare you for the Division I level?
Lange: Playing lacrosse at Northeast was alright. We had two good years at Northeast, my sophomore and junior year, but other than that we kind of struggled. It was good though; I played on some good teams and we got to play against the best of the best in Anne Arundel County so that helped a lot.

Pasadena Patch: What advice would you give to younger lacrosse players who are looking to play at the college level?
Lange: I would tell them to put in as much effort as you can in the off-season so you can get your name out there to other college coaches. College lacrosse is a lot more than just what you do in the season during high school so I would definitely recommend some fall ball.

Pasadena Patch: What is your major and what are your plans for life after college?
Lange: I am a physical education major. Eventually, I hope to maybe come back to Northeast and teach there and get a coaching job with the school.