Pitt Men's Lacrosse 2021

Our Team

The Pitt Men’s lacrosse team is coming off a very successful campaign that saw us post a 4-0 record in the COVID shortened 2019-2020 campaign. This included seeing us outscore our opponents 60-13 in those 4 games. While we graduated a valuable group of four seniors, we are returning the majority of our roster, and added around 10 new freshmen. The team is still headed by Richard Rattner, who is in his second season as the head coach, and his eighth overall with the Pitt program. Assistant coaches include goalie coach/defensive coordinator Nate Rattner, and former Panther Luke Newton.

After a successful fall where we were fortunate enough to get a full eight weeks of practice in, we are hoping we are able to compete this spring, pending the restrictions imposed by the University and Allegheny county. We have an excellent lineup of games, most notably against rivals WVU and Temple, along with Virginia Tech, Tennessee, Indiana, and many others! Despite there not being a national championship this season nor a conference tournament, if we are able, we will compete our hardest and strive for a successful season.

About Our Project

Pitt Men’s Lacrosse is a part of the CLC conference of the Men’s Collegiate Lacrosse Association (MCLA), a national organization of non-NCAA men’s lacrosse programs. The MCLA acts as a governing structure similar to the NCAA, and provides rules, awards and a national tournament at the end of each season. Being a part of the MCLA is an expensive endeavor. Along with league and conference dues, the team plays a season of 12-18 games, half of which require travelling to schools across the country. Because of our status as a club sports team, we do not receive athletic funding from the University of Pittsburgh, and therefore nearly every cost must be covered by the team. These costs include MCLA and CLC dues, field time, field equipment, apparel, and road trip-related costs (busses and hotels).

Additionally, the global pandemic has had an adverse impact on the team and how it is able to function. Many of our practices and meetings over the past semester and continuing into this one must take place off-campus due to restrictions on on-campus activities. This means that the costs for field time are increasing, as we are forced to find other, more expensive options for practice facilities. Our previous season was cut short due to the pandemic and we were able to have some of our finances refunded. This does not mean that your donations will be in vain, as we would be attempting to lower team dues, something that would make the team more accessible for interested players.

We sincerely appreciate any donation that you are willing to give, which will go toward any of costs detailed, or if we surpass our goal, to general operating expenses. 100% of the donations go to our team and all donations are tax deductible, with you receiving a tax receipt from Pitt in the mail.

Where Does Your Donation Go?

Regular season Roadtrips (Michigan, Buffalo)

While we were able to use bus credit from the previous season to pay for trips to Blacksburg, VA and Philadelphia, we still need to fund trips to Michigan and Buffalo for conference games. For this, we would need to pay for two bus trips and one night in a hotel (approx. $5,000 - $8,000).

Lowering Dues

Being a part of the team is very expensive ($1800/year, $900/semester). The number one reason we struggle to retain players is money; it’s a lot to ask a new player to spend $900 in their third or fourth week of school to play on the team.  If we can raise a large sum of money, we can reduce dues for members, and make playing lacrosse at the University of Pittsburgh an opportunity for more Pitt students. 

If we cannot travel, this is where most of the money raised during this campaign will go toward

Increased Salary for coaches

We are unfortunately unable to pay our coaching staff much money due to budgetary restrictions. With your help, we could pay them the money they deserve. None of them are employees at the University, and they have full-time jobs outside of coaching. We’d like to reward them for the extensive time commitment they make (60-70 hours in the fall, 100-120 hours in the spring).

_______________________________

Contributions received for this project shall be used in accordance with the purpose described herein, the terms in the FAQs and applicable law. For questions that cannot be answered in the FAQs, please call 412-383-5001 or email engage@pitt.edu.