LAX.COM started off by asking, Coach Stagnitta, his feelings on the new automatic qualification playoff system which will be in place for the 2000 NCAA season?

Coach Stagnitta: I think that automatic qualifier can be a good thing, under a system where they pinpoint the best leagues or qualify the best leagues with an automatic qualifier...then put everybody else at least in Pool B. If they put us in with the independents, then they at least are asssured to get the best teams. If they put everybody in Pool B together, after they do the automatic qualifier, then at least it would allow for the best teams to go to the tournament. I'm not sure how much it does for the game. They have given programs whose goals were not neccassarily to be playoff teams, but to compete and have a program, access to a championship... which they can't win. As a coach you want to be able to compete at the top level for a championship. You would like to see the champioships that are sponsered by the NCAA, at least the tournament, be made up of the best teams in the country. Right now your whole season, in a league like the ODAC, can be decided if you have one bad day. One of those bad days could keep you out of the tournament. There is not a lot of room for error now.

Seven different W&L Generals were named as pre-season 2000 D-III All-Americans:
1ST Team Pre-season All-Americans: Matt Dugan(A), Pope Hackney(M), Pete Iwancio(D)
2ND Team Pre-season All-Americans: Colin Dougherty(A), Charlie Antrim(D)
3RD Team Pre-season All-Americans: Chris Brown(A)
HM Pre-Season All-American: Wes Hayes(G)

LAX.COM: Which of these pre-season All-American players will be the most influencial on this year's W&L team?

Coach Stagnitta: We really have three kids that have consistantly performed and can be dangerous on any given day. Obviously, Matt Dugan had a great year last year. He is a tremendous individual and is just a great athlete. He continues to get better, and he is a kid that can dominant games. The kid that people have forgetton about, to some extent, is Colin Dougherty. Colin was an All-American two years ago. He can do everything: he can shoot, he can feed, and he's going to the cage much better then he ever has. As far as just purely being a lacrosse player and knowing the game, Colin is the best we have. Pope is a throw back player. He faces off, he plays great defense, he has a tremendous split-dodge, and he's shooting the ball better and better. Pope is just a big, tough, athletic kid. They are the three kids that really make it go...

LAX.COM: What are the biggest games of the 2000 season?

Coach Stagnitta: Our most important games, are those six ODAC games. The ODAC, with Lynchburg making the playoffs last year and Virginia Weslayan breaking that top twenty last year, is going to be competitive. Every given day, because of the automatic bids, no matter what, is going to be competitive. Obviously-Roanoke, Lynchburg, and Hampden-Sydney are the ones you highlight at first. It used to be, even if one of those given games didn't go the way you would of hoped or planned, you could always make up for it with the Washington Colleges, Franklin&Marshalls, and Gettysburgs on your schedule. Those games might not mean as much, except for the fact that those are the two strongest conferences this year that have automatic bids. It is important for the ODAC to do well against the Centennial Conference and vice versus.

LAX.COM: What are the realistic goals for this year?

Coach Stagnitta: Last year, I think we were a little ahead of schedule. We were young...you can see that because everybody is back [this year]. We had a great regular season and didn't handle the post season very well...we also ran into a team(Denison defeated W&L in last year's D-III Quarterfinals) that played as good a lacrosse game as I have ever played against. There are some high expectations. We are getting a lot of pre-season press. The kids can always look back and see the last game they played...they lost, and lost handily. There is that motivation [from last year]. Maybe we have got a chance to get a little deeper into the playoffs [this year], but we realize right now, we just really gotta get through the ODAC. If we don't, we won't have the opportunity to do anything else.