After two years of struggling to gain momentum, the UW-Eau Claire club lacrosse team is finally laying the foundation for an enduring and successful program, said senior and team captain Chris Bender.

“I can see this team in two or three years working its way up in the division and competing really well,” he said.

Bender’s optimism is due to the wealth of experience he said has graced the program in its third season.

“I’d say 60 percent of the team has played four to six years of lacrosse,” he said.

When Bender co-founded the program two years ago, only a few team members had ever played lacrosse.

When the team joined Div. B of the Upper Midwest Lacrosse League (UMLL) last year, it still had some developing to do, he said.

Now, with word of the program spreading, athletes who played in high school are beginning to participate, endowing the team with seasoned players, he said.

And that endowment is complemented by what Bender said is a promising dose of team chemistry.

“Chemistry-wise everything is great,” he said. “Everyone is working together to make the team the best that they possibly can.”

Sophomore Noah Paulseth, who assumed the position as head coach this past fall, said he agrees with Bender on both the increase in experience and the impressive team chemistry.

“We got some new freshmen coming to play who really know their stuff, and the team from last year is still here too,” he said. “We got a really good bunch of guys.”

Bender and Paulseth both said that a solid defense is the team’s most valuable asset on the field.

“Our defense is really good,” Paulseth said. “They keep us in the game.”

The two also agree on the team’s main weakness, which they said is its struggle to finish successful drives and score points.

“I think the season will bring improvement,” Paulseth said.

The team saw its first action on the weekend of Feb. 4, when it competed in a six-team tournament in Marquette, Mich. They defeated Michigan Technical College and Bethel College (Minn.), the latter of which is a member of Div. B of the UMLL, along with Eau Claire.

Eau Claire’s club lacrosse team will continue competing against regional teams in dual meets nearly every weekend until the UMLL quarterfinals on April 24, Bender said.

While the team would like to advance as far as possible in the UMLL tournament, Paulseth said, its primary goal is to finish the season with a winning record – a mark of improvement from its humble beginnings.