Transcript:

Brooke Hale: Hi and welcome back to the Home Stretch, The Daily Chronicle’s sports podcast. My name is Brooke Hale and I’ll be your host. Today Jordan Hyde will be joining us to give his thoughts on his upcoming lacrosse season. Hi, Jordan and welcome to the podcast.

Jordan Hyde: Hey, Brooke. Thanks for having me on.

Brooke Hale: Of course. So how’s your off-season been?

Jordan Hyde: Off-season has been great, and we spent a lot of time in taking the next step forward after last year’s NCAA appearance. You know, we obviously brought on some new guys and it’s been fun trying to build some chemistry with them and take the next step forward together.

Brooke Hale: Sweet, have you done anything differently to prepare for this season? 

Jordan Hyde: Honestly, no. We try to stay consistent in what we do. It’s, it’s honestly more so just about, you know, fine tuning little things. I think a lot of us knew what we had to do in that last game of last year against Notre Dame. So now, it’s just about taking the next step forward together and being confident in what we’re doing.

Brooke Hale: How do you feel about the team? Do you guys think you guys can make the same run?

Jordan Hyde: Yeah, absolutely. You know, I think looking back to my sophomore year, we lost in the conference playoffs, you know, made it to the championship in an overtime game. We lost. The next year, we took a step forward, we won. Made it to the NCAA playoffs. So I think we’re ready to take that next step.

Brooke Hale: That’s so awesome. What are you looking forward to most this season?

Jordan Hyde: There’s a lot of things. I honestly love the little things about, you know, our day to day. Just practicing in the spring, the weather gets nicer, we get to travel, playing games more often. I believe we have 14 games, not including the conference playoffs. So, it’s super fun just being able to play in games again.

Brooke Hale: Who are you most excited to play against?

Jordan Hyde: We have a big philosophy on our team that we don’t really have big games or big opponents. Coach McMinn came in and kind of instilled that in all of us and it’s been, it’s been difficult because there’s different conditions that you have, you know, whether you’re playing indoor, outdoor, at a Big 10 school. There’s so many different things that you could focus on, and he just tries to, you know, make us focus on, on what’s at hand there and that’s playing our best together.

Brooke Hale: Last year, you guys front-loaded your non-conference schedule with a lot of really quality opponents such as Rutgers and John Hopkins, and ended up stringing together 11 straight wins later in the season. How does scheduling those tough non-conference opponents set up the team for success later on this year?

Jordan Hyde: Yeah, I think, you know, Coach McMinn, obviously, again, looking out for our best interests, he tries to load up those quote unquote, you know, ranked teams, and so it gives us confidence going into the season of we’re going to see the best people right away. And then we get into our conference games and it’s kind of a grind obviously, just because we have a lot of teams in our conference. I believe we have 10, including us. So we get to play a lot of games, not complaining there. But then again, you know, once we accomplish our goals there, we get to move on to the NCAA tournament, and then we see those, you know, original teams again.

Brooke Hale: So it’s your senior year, what do you, what are you most looking forward to?

Jordan Hyde: Yeah, there’s a lot. Honestly, I have a full plate right now. I’m taking six different classes, which is a grind. You know, I decided to finish a business minor. I picked that up last year and, you know, I felt like why not just push myself, you know, doubling down on lacrosse, school. I’m actually starting a club program back home in Michigan. So there’s a lot on my plate, but I just felt like why not double down right now in my last year? 

Brooke Hale: Great. Well, thank you so much for sharing your thoughts Jordan and good luck this season. Thank you for listening to the Home Stretch, The Daily Chronicle’s sports podcast. Stay tuned for the next episode coming every week. 

Jordan Hyde: Thanks.

Transcribed by https://otter.ai

Producer: Stevie Shaughnessey —  [email protected]   | @steviechrony

Host: Brooke Hale — [email protected]  | @brookehale_

Guest: Jordan Hyde – senior studying criminology and psychology | Men’s Lacrosse Team