For the past four years, Army midfielder Ryan Chase has been trained for a task like this.

Like the tenure of every cadet at West Point, Chase’s four-year experience has been geared toward the development of leadership skills necessary for military personnel. This season, the senior team co-captain is banking on those skills translating to the lacrosse field.

Chase is the leading returning scorer on an Army team that lost its top three goal producers and 71 percent of its total offense from last season. He will be counted on by the Army coaching staff to lead an inexperienced lineup and fulfill high expectations, both for himself and the team.

‘I think there’s always a little pressure,’ Chase said. ‘I think (head coach Joe Alberici) just expects me to be a leader and kind of get these guys ready for the game and what it’s like to be on the field.’

Adding to the pressure on Chase is Army’s need to rebound from last year’s campaign. The Black Knights went just 8-7 last year in Alberici’s first season, missing the postseason for the first time in four years.

The extent of the losses Chase and Army must account for is staggering. The Black Knights return just three out of 10 starters this year. Four of those seven starters who graduated were All-Patriot League selections, including leading scorers Mike Obringer and John Walker as well as defensive stalwart and co-captain Matt Luyster.

‘It’s not that he has to do it all, but we’re really relying on his shooting ability and his ability to create opportunities,’ Alberici said.

In fairness to Chase, the responsibility he now shoulders is not merely a product of Army’s dearth of experience. Chase earned the right to become one of Army’s captains and the team’s offensive leader after a breakout campaign last season.

Chase immediately emerged as a steady presence in the Black Knight midfield after ineffective freshman and sophomore seasons. He scored goals in each of Army’s first three contests after scoring just one goal in his first two seasons combined. Chase started ten of Army’s 15 games last season, netting 11 goals to go along with six assists. Those totals put him fourth on the team with 17 assists.

‘Ryan really had a great junior season,’ Alberici said. ‘His first and second years, he was sort of finding his way in the program and it hadn’t really materialized.’

Chase will need to have similar success this year. On the offensive end he will be expected to provide consistent pressure with the hard and heavy long-range shot that has been his trademark since his arrival at West Point. Key to his recent success, however, has been his development into a more complete offensive and defensive player.

‘We’ve been working on getting Ryan to see himself as more than a shooter,’ Alberici said. ‘He really has worked hard on his defense and takes pride in it.’

Chase knows there is little room for error in a program that always imposes high expectations. He embraces the opportunity to utilize his leadership skills that have cultivated in his nearly four years at West Point.

Even if leading a team on the lacrosse field is a new challenge for Chase, leading a group of his peers is not. Chase has had experience leading squads of West Point students the past two years, a task all cadets at the academy undertake as they gain age and experience at West Point. This summer, Chase shadowed the second lieutenant of a military police unit at Fort Stewart, Ga. There, he interacted with army personnel and learned ‘what the real army was like.’ It’s just another experience that Chase feels will help him when he steps onto the field this season.

‘Coming back as one the main starters, it’s a really good leadership opportunity, but at West Point this is what they try to teach us how to do everyday is to be a leader,’ Chase said.

So far, Chase and the Black Knights still await the answers to whether this young group is ready to fill the shoes left by their more established predecessors. The Black Knights slid by Marist in its opener on Saturday, 7-6. Army relied on goals from seven different players. Chase did not manage a point but had four shots in the victory.

Despite the ‘by committee’ style with which Army plays, Chase is expecting immediate results from the green group he is in charge of leading.

‘This whole fall and the preseason we’ve been working at it,’ Chase said. ‘It seems like all that stuff we needed to get rid of we got rid of in the fall. During the preseason is really where we really started to gel together.’

Alberici believes Chase is the one able to shepherd this young group back to Patriot League supremacy and an NCAA tournament berth. Thanks to his background at West Point, the head coach thinks Chase certainly has to tools to be successful.

‘Everyday is a leadership experience for these guys,’ Alberici said. ‘Captain at any place is important, but here at Army being named captain is a really special thing.’

Published on February 20, 2007 at 12:00 pm