This week, The Lafayette sits down with men’s lacrosse junior attacker Conor Walters, a team leader for Lafayette.

Amy Hewlett: You led your team in both goals and assists this season. What do you attribute your offensive success to?

Conor Walters: I would say my teammates, they make it easy for me. We’ve developed a great chemistry, and our leaders helped us develop and showed us what it means to work hard.

AH: This is your second season in a row leading the team in goals. What pushes you to work hard on the field?

CW: I think our record. We can’t be satisfied without winning, so I always want to do what I can to make sure we’re giving our team a chance to get that W at the end of the day.

AH: How did this season’s turnout compare to your expectations?

CW: Not very well to be honest with you. We went 3-12. We took a lot of steps in the right direction to have a better culture and program, but we need to start transitioning some of that off the field progress into wins on the field.

AH: What do you think the team needs to improve on to have a better record next season?

CW: I think we just need to be bigger competitors. I think [players] need to be more upset when we lose, [players] have to want it and [players] have to stay confident and proud in what we do. I think if we do that then it will start to transfer over to what we do on the field.

AH: You were named to the Academic All-League squad this season. How do you balance excelling in the classroom and on the field?

CW: I’m a very detailed-oriented person. I try to break everything down and try to make a schedule for my day. It’s a lot of work and I devote a lot of time to it, but I just try to take it day by day and try to get everything done to put myself in a position to be successful.

AH: What has been the most challenging part of being a student-athlete for you?

CW: The balancing of time. We have almost a 40 hours a week of sports and almost the same amount of time spend on school, so it’s about finding the right amount of time to devote to your sport and to your classes, while also having some time for yourself.

AH: How do you plan on stepping up as a leader in your senior season next year?

CW: I’m working on becoming more vocal. I think I’ve been a good leader-by-example in the past with trying to put in the work and showing others how to work hard. Now, I need to start speaking up more and saying what is expected of everyone.

AH: Do you have any pre-game rituals or superstitions?

CW: No, I used to be very superstitious when I was younger but I’ve gotten away from that. It gets in my head too much.

AH: Who is your biggest role model?

CW: My older brother. He’s much older than me, so when I was growing up I always looked up to him. He was a leader on his teams, so I just have always wanted to emulate his behavior.

AH: If you could only eat one type of food for the rest of your life, what would it be?

CW: Sushi, no question.

AH: What is your favorite lacrosse memory?

CW: Probably playing my first game at Lafayette. It had always been my dream to play Division 1 lacrosse, so stepping on the field for the first time was big for me.