Washington and Lee men’s lacrosse midfielder Hudson Hamill, ‘20, scored a career-best six points on two goals against Shenandoah on March 10 and tallied four assists, tying his all-time high. Hamill also scored a goal in the team’s 13-8 win on March 14 over Gettysburg, who was ranked number three in the country. The men’s lacrosse team is currently riding on a six-game win streak. Hamill is providing young leadership to help carry the team even further.

Ring-tum Phi: Men’s lacrosse started the season with a three-game losing streak. However, the team is now riding on a six-game winning streak. How does the team feel the season is going up to this point?

Hudson Hamill, ’20: Definitely good. [We] went zero and three in the beginning, kind of took a step back, identified what we needed to change. A lot of credit to the coaches, they were big on our confidence. We knew we had it in us to start playing better. Our last loss to Denison we actually started playing a lot better, and we used that going forward to build on…So moving forward, we’re just feeling good but trying not to get complacent, and just try to get better every day.

Phi: You had several “career-highs” in the game against Shenandoah? How did you feel coming out of that game?

HH: Right, so, Shenandoah…we had a big game against Gettysburg the next game, but we made a point to not really look past them. So we just wanted to go out and play how we knew we could play. Yeah, it was a good day. Things were opening up, and we were just hitting our spots. Credit to the teammates, I think a lot of the others guys had a bunch of career-highs too. So all in all, really good game for everybody on the team.

Phi: Gettysburg was a top-ten nationally-ranked team when you played them on Wednesday. What were your thoughts going into that game?

HH: I think they were number three coming in. They were undefeated. We knew they might be looking past us, those three losses definitely make teams not respect us as much as they might, but we knew we could play with them. And we showed up and we stuck it to them. I think they were a little shocked, but we knew we could do that. So it was probably the biggest win of the year on Wednesday.

Phi: And what was the game plan going into that? Did you guys have a strategy that you were really focusing on?

HH: We tried to focus on ourselves more. We played two top-five teams earlier in the year, and there was a lot of focus on them. And we couldn’t play with them, but for Gettysburg we took another approach where let’s just focus on what we can control. We knew we were good enough to beat them, so we just needed to go out and play how we could play. And I think focusing on that kind of calmed everybody down and allowed us to open it up out on the field. And I think it showed in the final score.

Phi: Looking forward to the rest of the season, what are you most excited about?

HH: Just moving forward and keeping doing what we’re doing and seeing how far we can take it. I think our team knows now that we can play with anybody in the country, which opens up a whole other side of confidence in our team. We’re really young, so [we’ve] got a lot of underclassmen playing, so I’m really excited. We’re only going to get better.

Phi: You said the team was young…how many freshmen do you have and how is the sophomore class helping to lead them through school and through the program?

HH: Last year we had a pretty good amount of freshmen playing, then this year we’ve kind of made that next step of now you know what to expect. You become more of a leader on the team…We have two goalies that are switching up starting, both freshmen. And then we have a starting attack man that’s a freshman and starting midi that’s a freshman. And they’re all contributing just how they should and learning as they go. And they’re doing a really good job right now.

Phi: And what is your favorite part about being a part of this team and a part of the program?

HH: I think just the people. Across the board: the coaches, the equipment staff, the trainers and then obviously my teammates. Just the comradery and the team chemistry is great, and that’s something we pride ourselves on. And just out there playing with all my friends makes it a lot more fun.

Phi: Do you have any unique pregame rituals?

HH: I drink a Red Bull energy drink before every game…definitely an odd thing. I started doing it in high school, though, and I’m pretty superstitious, so the coaches have been good about letting me do it. I know they’re probably not happy, but it’s definitely a weird pre-game ritual that I have. It’s kind of something mental for me. It’s not that I get anything out of it, I just like the idea of doing it. So…definitely superstitious.