Jake Lichack’s brother, Tim, started all four years at Morgan lacrosse. He committed to Eastern Connecticut and is now a college sophomore and a standout attack man for the team. Jake, a junior at Morgan, wants to go to college for lacrosse and follow in his brother’s footsteps – to show that with hard work, anything is possible. But before he can accomplish any of that, he must learn to turn around a team that went  3-15 last season and find their path to success.  

Lichack has already started doing that as captain. Jake has gone looking for all the flaws, both personally, as well within the team, and has immediately begun to call them out. If it’s communicating, he will make sure the team fixes it, whatever the team needs he will support them.

Even though Lichack is invested in the team’s improvement, he is very focused on also improving his skills by giving 100% on each rep, and being a standout in practice. He always is staying after practice and still wants more reps. Lichack says, “I will beg some of his teammates to stay to get more reps after practice. I will usually shoot around for 30 extra minutes to perfect my craft.” 

But he isn’t perfect. He will admit that some things he failed in the past seasons were being able to communicate properly, which Lichack says, ” I wanted this spot. It meant a lot to me to get this position and I needed to work for it. Lichack adds, “I would struggle with this stuff in my sophomore year. I didn’t know if I had a good spot for my voice, so I slowly worked into it.” 

Lichack believes he worked hard to become a captain and made sure he always stood out. “I’ve been playing since I was a kid,” said Lichack, “and I’ve learned a lot from when I played as a kid what to do and not to do. And with the experience I have in the sport, I’m able to stand out and show out during practices.”

 Lichack talks about how, when he graduates, he wants to be remembered as a mentor and a leader. He states that “all I want people to remember me as is a leader and a mentor. I want to create more passion for the sport in the school as well.”

As captain, Jake wants to ditch the old Morgan way. No more slacking off. He wants the team to put 100 percent into everything they do as a team. Lichack doesn’t just say this, he proves it. Last spring, He put work in during the off-season, playing for the Oilers, a summer program for lacrosse, and he also lifted almost every day.  “I don’t like to take breaks, I want to follow in my brother’s footsteps as a lacrosse player,” Jake said. 

Lichack talks about being together as a team, saying, ” The team wants to help everyone out, 

making sure the team is staying focused and having fun. Lichack then speaks on the team’s needs, saying they need to work on clearing the ball and making sure that they communicate. Lichack said, “Without communication, the team cannot function properly because we aren’t all working together.”

Despite the team’s struggles on the field, Lichack has found his own success. He creates space in the open field and has had some highlight goals this season. Jake says his hardest shot he took was over 80 mph against North Branford and jokingly said, “I almost put a hole through the goalie’s stick.”

Lichack also has great aggressiveness and voice on the team. He says he tries to make sure players are where they need to be and make sure they know what to do.  Lichacks’ goal for the season is to be voted in as “All Conference” and hit 100 points, which he is rallying up to, having over 70 points in 3 years. He also wants to make the first team All Shoreline. 

Lichack said how hard he was willing to work to better the team, ending with, “I would play even if I had a torn hamstring. This team means a lot to me, and I’m here to work no matter how hurt I get.”