Michelle Mendoza | MCLA.us

ORANGE, Calif. – The defending national champions celebrated legacy, history, and victory at the annual Chapman lacrosse alumni game on Saturday.

Players of the undefeated 2016 campaign received championship rings amidst the presence of a large fan and alumni community on Wilson field.

"We’re in our 29th year, with a ton of alumni here to celebrate,” said Chapman lacrosse founder Mike Pelly. “As far as the new team is concerned, we lost some great talent last year, there’s no doubt about it. But one of the best attributes of last year’s team was our depth. We’ve got a lot of guys who are going to step up and I’m confident we’ll pick up right where we left off.”

Familiar faces like 2010 graduate Connor Martin, 2016 captain Alex Seigel and recent graduate Connor Reilly bolstered the alumni team, which came up short, 11-10 against the new Panther roster.

Forecasting keys to success for the 2017 team, Reilly said: “It’s just about playing the systems well and playing with each other. That’s what we did really well last year."

"We almost got more excited to get assists than goals and celebrated the plays people normally don’t usually get excited for, like ground balls out of faceoffs," Reilly continued. "We focused on making that stuff important and everything else just came together. The new team looked really good out there. They gave us a run for our money.”