The St. Joe’s men’s club lacrosse team, led by senior captain Josh Nicastro, embraces a unique style with their team structure and culture. The squad is completely student organized, playing games and practicing without a formal coach.

Nicastro has been with the team throughout his time on Hawk Hill and knows the challenges that come with having an unconventional team layout.

“For being a team that doesn’t have a coach, per say, like an older guy or a dad, we’re pretty good with that,” Nicastro said. “My freshman year, we had a coach and it was good.”

According to Nicastro, having a traditional team structure does not necessarily translate to success.

“It gave us more structure, but that doesn’t mean we’re not better off without one,” Nicastro said. “A lot of teams that we play, especially Temple, they typically have a full coaching staff. We still beat up on them every time we play.”

One way Nicastro enables the team to excel without the presence of a coaching staff is by setting objectives for upcoming seasons.

“We definitely want to win the conference championship,” Nicastro said. “We always get to the conference championship game, but we’ve always lost in overtime or some weird thing. It’s never been straight up getting torched, it’s always a sudden death goal that decides the game.”

Junior John Carrozza, one of Nicastro’s teammates added that there are smaller goals along the way that are equally as important.

“I think the main goal is to win a national championship, but a smaller goal is focusing on each game and taking the season one game at a time,” Carrozza said.

Nicastro compared the team dynamics to that of a fraternity. He constantly stressed the importance of brotherhood and playing for each man on the field rather than oneself.

Carrozza pointed to the team’s strong sense of brotherhood as the key to the Hawks’ success in both the past and present. He believes having great chemistry helps the team blend together and communicate efficiently.

The Hawks hope that their strong sense of leadership and team dynamics will pay off, as they anticipate a successful season that ends in a national championship victory.

“We all have a common bond in that we all love playing the game,” Nicastro said.