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PROGRAM SCHEDULE PROPAGANDA: UNRELEASED
THIS IS WHY WE FIGHT: THE SCHEDULE
Wagner is basically the lacrosse equivalent of a rescue dog: Adorable despite the fact that there are worms in its heart and it barks at chairs for no apparent reason. There's just something about the Seahawks' existence that makes you pull for them to win games, and that's probably driven by the fact that Wagner has had an awful Division I reality for the past 15 seasons:
| YEAR | RECORD | LAXPOWER RANKING | LAXPOWER S.o.S. RANKING | WINS |
| 2000 | 0-13 | 55/55 | 48/55 | N/A |
| 2001 | 1-12 | 55/55 | 54/55 | CCNY (D-III) |
| 2002 | 3-10 | 53/55 | 55/55 | CCNY (D-III); Binghamton; Siena |
| 2003 | 1-11 | 53/54 | 54/54 | Siena |
| 2004 | 1-12 | 54/54 | 51/54 | VMI |
| 2005 | 2-12 | 54/55 | 54/55 | Lafayette; Robert Morris |
| 2006 | 0-15 | 57/57 | 52/57 | N/A |
| 2007 | 0-15 | 56/56 | 53/56 | N/A |
| 2008 | 0-15 | 56/57 | 57/57 | N/A |
| 2009 | 1-15 | 59/59 | 57/59 | Presbyterian |
| 2010 | 1-14 | 60/60 | 54/60 | VMI |
| 2011 | 0-12 | 60/60 | 48/60 | N/A |
| 2012 | 1-13 | 60/61 | 61/61 | Sacred Heart |
| 2013 | 1-12 | 63/63 | 63/63 | VMI |
| 2014 | 2-11 | 67/67 | 66/67 | Monmouth; VMI |
Here are some schedule highlights and games of note:
A Candle's Fickle Flame
February 13: Lafayette; February 17: at Monmouth; February 28: at Massachusetts-Lowell; March 17: VMI; March 28: at NJIT
The quest last season for Wagner wasn't to fail to win Reverse Survivor. Rather, it was for the Seahawks to win two games -- any two games -- in their 2014 campaign. Wagner accomplished that before the calendar moved into April, earning a quadruple overtime victory against first-year program Monmouth and sliding past VMI in Lexington. With that accomplishment deposited in the First Bank of Good Feelings, Wagner's focus now shifts to -- at a minimum -- replicating the team's effort from last spring: Another season of at least two victories and an exclusion from Reverse Survivor contention.
The schedule sets up well for the Seahawks to pursue that reality: Lafayette and Monmouth provide early opportunities to bucket a "W" while dates against the River Hawks and Highlanders -- there can be only one! -- offer chances to pick on neophyte programs. In total, there are five reasonable opportunities for Wagner to bag a kill, an almost ridiculously target-rich environment for a program that has taken so many shots to the mouth over the last 15 years that its face is barely recognizable. Anything more than two victories in 2015 would set a new program record for wins against Division I competition in the same season, and if the Seahawks manage to cross into that realm of Gatorade bath frequency, I may send Matt Poskay a nice fruit basket from Edible Arrangements.
New Best Friends
February 13: Lafayette; February 28: at Massachusetts-Lowell; March 7: Dartmouth; March 28: at NJIT;
It's always interesting to see what teams do with their schedules from season to season. For the 2015 season, Wagner has replaced Detroit, Mercer, Richmond, and Vermont with Dartmouth, Lafayette, NJIT, and Massachusetts-Lowell. With those changes in nonconference opponents, the Seahawks will face a program under a new head coach (Dartmouth), two first-year programs, and a Lafayette team that is 5-21 over the last two seasons. This isn't necessarily indicative of Wagner powering down its slate (it had the weakest schedule in the country last season according to LaxPower), but it is curious to see these particular opponents -- opponents that can at least smell Wagner's station in the crab bucket -- dot the Seahawks' schedule for 2015.