The No. 15 Arizona men’s lacrosse team has won four of its last five matches as the team heads to Phoenix to take on No. 13 Grand Canyon this Friday. Arizona currently sits at 6-3 with three matches left, trailing the 9-1 Arizona State Sun Devils in the Southwestern Lacrosse Conference. Starting goaltender Wyatt Hill sat down with the Daily Wildcat earlier this season to discuss how he can improve as a player, changes on the coaching staff and more.

Daily Wildcat: What is something you can work on to improve your goaltending?

Wyatt Hill: For me, it is a lot of things. I’m probably the hardest person on myself or anybody else. Clearing is one of the things; passing, getting out faster and working better on controlling the defense is a big thing.

DW: What have you guys been working on specifically on the defensive end?

WH: A lot of communication. A lot of talking. Once we come together as a team and as a unit, it’s a lot better in our outcome. Especially we go into zone defenses and stuff like that.

DW: How has the emotion of the team affected you, good or bad?

WH: That’s one of the biggest things that I hated last year on the sideline. We had a terrible sideline. A lot of the freshman and the lower-class kids that really don’t get in and stuff, they just really aren’t feeling it on the sidelines. That really affects everyone on the field. This year, we’ve gotten a lot better; everybody gets excited. That just makes us want to play better and get everyone else excited.

DW: When you’re in the goal and you don’t see a lot of action, what do you do to keep yourself motivated?

WH: I’m a big trash talker, so if I haven’t seen the ball in a while, I’ll just be walking around, passing the other team. You know, just talking trash. It’s all mostly playful, but other than that, I just have fun out there.

DW: Your coaching staff has changed recently with the assistant coaches. How has that affected you?

WH: I love the new coaches. I think it really brings a lot more intensity and a lot of knowledge. We brought in two great offensive assistant coaches in coach Brogan [Hill] and coach [Jay] Mayes. Mayes is doing really great work for our face-off guys as well as instrumenting our new offenses, which is working out a whole better. Coach [Chris] Shutlz brings a lot of intensity to practice and asks a lot of us. If you do what you need to and work hard then you won’t get chewed out. 

Follow Jon Rice on Twitter