Hello, fellow Panthers! Our campaign for the Fall of 2019 officially came to a close last night. During our approximately 1 month long campaign, we raised a whopping $7,010! For those of you who are unaware, our initial goal was $3,000, so we completely blew our original goal out of the water! This campaign was an enormous success, and I have one simple message for all of you: Thank you!! We cannot say this enough – your generosity means the world to us.

This was the most successful EngagePitt campaign our program has ever run, and we could not have done it without you. The funds raised through this campaign will help us cover expenses for road trips, equipment, field time, etc. These are all things that we need to keep our program afloat, and every one of you was a huge help in that regard. Whether you are an alumnus, a family member, a friend, or whatever your relationship to Pitt Lacrosse may be, we hope to see all of you at our games this upcoming spring.

This is your fundraising chair, Malik Talaat, signing off for the moment. Have a great holiday season, and as always, Go Panthers!

Good morning, fellow Panthers! We hope that you are all doing well in what has been a very hectic time for our team, both on the field and especially in the classroom. This is just a brief update announcing that there is only 48 hours left in our campaign! Our campaign will be live until 11:59 PM Sunday night, so there’s still time to donate if you have not already! As of today, we have raised $6,935! This has completely shattered our original goal of $3000, and we want to sincerely thank you for your generosity thus far.

However, as many of you know, we have been raising the bar, with the most recent goal being up to $7500. We are very close to this goal, and with just a little push, we can meet a new goal for an unprecedented second time! This has been a wildly successful campaign up to this point, let’s finish strong!

Good morning fellow Panthers! I would like to just give you all a brief update on our campaign and some of the things that have been going on with our program.

As many of you know, the University of Pittsburgh recently switched their official colors from navy and a dark gold to royal blue and gold. Due to this, our team had to update our gear to accommodate these changes. We recently got some of the new gear for this upcoming season, including practice pinnies and helmets. They came out very nice, and we can’t wait to unveil our new uniforms in the near future!

As for the campaign, we have raised $6,460! If you have been following us throughout the duration of the campaign, that is over double of our original goal. Thank you all so much for your generosity so far, this campaign has been an amazing success. However, there is still over a week left, so there is still plenty of time to donate. Any amount helps, and we appreciate all of your support. Again, thank you for what has been a great campaign so far, let’s finish strong!

We want to thank Zack for taking the time out to do this, but we also want to thank you! Currently, we have raised over $5800, passing our goal for the second time! You all have been awesome so far, and as a result, we’re going to bump the goal up again to $7500. We are amazed at your generosity so far during this campaign, as this has been a huge success so far. With over 2 weeks left, we are confident that we can break the goal for the third time. Thank you, and Go Panthers!

Name: Zack Lesher

Class: Freshman

Position: Defense

Hometown: Wallingford, PA

High School: Strath Haven High School

Question 1: What made you choose Pitt?

When I came here on my visit, it felt like a super welcoming place as well as somewhere I could spend my year. I also am an engineer, and this is one of the better engineering programs in the country so I figured what better way to enjoy college than to go somewhere that my social life would be great as well as my academic career.

Question 2: How have you enjoyed your first semester on campus so far?

To be honest, the beginning was kind of rough. I struggled to adjust academically from high school, and it took me a little while to figure myself out. I also kind of struggled to develop a social network, but through the Pitt Men’s Club Lacrosse team I was able to connect with some really awesome guys who have helped me with academics, as well as provided me with a social outlet. Overall, it has been great.

Question 3: What made you want to join the Pitt Men’s Lacrosse Team?

Lacrosse has been a huge part of my life since elementary school, and after my senior high school season was over I was not ready to give it up. I knew that I was not a division I caliber player, and did not really want to go to any other schools so I thought it would be a good fit. I also wanted to continue playing the game that provides me with the ability to just shut out school and stress, be surrounded by a great group of guys, and have fun while doing it.

Question 4: What kind of success do you envision for the team this upcoming season?

This upcoming season I believe we will be a very strong team. Our defense is looking top-tier, and our offense seems to gel really well together. We have a lot of young talent so it may take a while to get good chemistry on the field, but when that clicks, I see a very positive outlook on the season. Everyone on the team is very committed to doing as well as we can, and we have practiced hard so I think all of this mixed together could result in a great year for the program.

Hello, fellow Panthers! As our fall season officially concludes, I wanted to provide all of you with another update regarding our team’s status. Last Sunday, October 20, we had a scrimmage against local Division III school, St. Vincent. In a competitive game, your Panthers came out on top by a final score of 12-8! Veterans Tim Fitzgerald, Brian McCaffrey, Alex Gonzalez, Zach Romac, and Jimmy Wilkinson all chipped in goals, while freshman newcomers Phil Tarling and Max Hoadley added a combined three goals between them. The defense was spearheaded by veterans Alex Keough, McCaffrey, Sean Culhane, Ty Tracy, Zach Gordon, and Malik Talaat, and also received valuable contributions from rookies Dillon Donnelly and Zach Lesher. Sophomore goalie Michael Gonzalez had a solid game in net for the Panthers, stopping the St. Vincent attack at crucial moments.

In addition to the scrimmage, we also hosted our alumni this past Friday for the annual alumni game. In a competitive game, the current Panthers were able to come out on top by a final score of 9-7. On behalf of all the current players, it was great to see all of the Panthers from the past! We want to thank you guys for coming out to the game, and we hope to see you at a game or two this spring!

As for our campaign, as of Saturday evening, we have raised a whopping $4,685!! This is a great achievement, and it only leaves us a little over $300 short of our current goal with over 21 days left! We want to thank you for your continued support during the campaign, but we still need your help! We ask that you share our cause with former teammates, coaches, friends, and family so we can continue the momentum in what has so far been a spectacular campaign. Again, thank you so much, and go Panthers!

Good morning fellow Panthers! I hope that all of you are doing well, in what has been a hectic time for our team, both on the field and in the classroom. This past Saturday, we hosted the second annual Charles Fuller Ross memorial game along with the girls team. The game involved us switching sticks with the girls players and having a fun scrimmage to commemorate Fuller Ross, a former Pitt lacrosse player who tragically passed away last year. A special thanks goes out to Riley McCarthy for organizing this tremendous event, and the Romac family for hosting a cook-out afterward. It was also a pleasure to have Fuller’s family in attendance, as they, along with Fuller, will always have a special place in our hearts.

In addition to that, we have managed to raise a whopping $3,685 so far! This mean we have exceeded our initial goal of $3,000, and it is incredible that you all were able to raise that amount of money in such a short period of time. As a result, we are going to raise the goal to $5,000. We know that an extra $2,000 seems steep, but you guys were so amazing during the first few days of this campaign, and with over a month remaining, we feel that it is a goal we can attain. Again thank you very much for your generosity, and go Panthers!