Friday's paper included a Q&A with Tufts senior attackman Cole Bailey, a Severn graduate who is the only Division III player on the Tewaaraton Award watch list. Because of space constraints, here are some answers that didn't make the cut.
What is your lasting memory of defeating Salisbury, 12-9, to capture the 2014 NCAA championship last May at M&T Bank Stadium in Baltimore?
It was kind of cool to be able to share that moment with my teammates and the fun times we had on the outside with the preparation for the game. But the biggest memory is just seeing all of your hard work add up to something that special. It's awesome. It's a memory I'll have forever.
People had pegged Tufts as the underdog against Salisbury. Did you feel like the underdog?
It's funny, because throughout the NCAA tournament, people had us as underdogs. Coach [Mike Daly] had printed out a synopsis of pregame predictions, and for each of the games against Cortland, [Rochester Institute of Technology] and Salisbury, we were predicted to lose. Coach printed that out and put that in our lockers, just to help us fuel that fire. We were underdogs throughout the NCAA tournament, and we just responded well. We knew we have everything we needed for our team to win every game. We just went out and played.
Could you have ever imagined registering 262 points on 112 goals and 150 assists in 65 career games?
I was fortunate enough to be able to start as a freshman, which was nice. The way we play the game, there are a lot of opportunities to put up some big points, and I guess I've just been fortunate enough to be able to capitalize on them.
Did any of the area Division III schools like Salisbury, Stevenson or Washington College try to recruit you?
They contacted me, but I knew I wanted to kind of distance myself from home. It's nice to come home and be with your family, but I wanted to go somewhere that wasn't too close to home. So Salisbury and Stevenson were too close for me.
Do you think there are some Division I programs that regret not recruiting you?
I'm not sure. That's a good question. I hope so.
What do you think are Tufts' chances of repeating as NCAA champion?
That's a long road. That's way down the road to think about. I think the biggest thing for this team is understanding that last year was an awesome team, but this year is a whole new team. We have to figure out what works for this team. Last year wasn't a perfect season. We had two losses and a few close wins. The biggest thing that our coach always says is, we want to play our best lacrosse in May. So right now, we're just figuring out what we need to do to do that.