A Day of Lacrosse Recruiting at MU

By: Jake Schwarzmann 

Photos: Unsplash

The Marymount men’s lacrosse team held its first-ever prospect day for recruits looking to play at the D3 collegiate level on Sept. 18. The university invited players to showcase their skills who are interested in offers from the school to continue their athletic career in college. It’s a style of recruiting more commonly used by D1 programs every year. 

Players arrived and checked in at Marymount, met the coaches and some of the players on the current roster. Recruits were then given a campus tour and some description of student life and how Marymount functions on a day-to-day Lunch in the cafeteria was next, fueling up before hitting the field, to show the coaches and some of the players on the current roster what they could bring to Marymount’s lacrosse team. 

The field session was played on Marymount’s backfield located behind the Lee Center and Rowley Hall. The weather was beautiful, 80 degrees, and sunny. The players experienced the best of the weather from 1-4 pm while out on the field.  Senior goalie Anthony Olivo, a senior goalie on the team said, “It was a beautiful day for lacrosse and since the weather was so nice, the players got to play in some of the best lacrosse conditions one could hope for. All the players were excited to finally take the field and showcase their skills.  

 Basic skills were tested, first catching and throwing, shooting, footwork, and goalies saving shots. After the first half-hour, players did more positional work in preparation for the group competitions. These included one versus ones, two versus two, all the way up to six versus six so players could demonstrate how they work as a team under no restrictions of a set offense or defense. 

Meanwhile, evaluators who are currently on the men’s lacrosse roster observed their skills. They noted statistics and handed evaluations to the coaches so that they could decide if players had what it takes to play for Marymount’s lacrosse team. 

Coach Jon Reynolds masterminded the process, hoping to see talent he had never seen before.

“I believe it was a successful event.  The guys played well and worked hard during the field session.  We have identified some great interest in the school and the program through the tour and information session,” he said. 

Lacrosse coaches often spend their weekends recruiting for Marymount and have done this for quite some time now.  Current junior and member of  Marymount’s lacrosse team Luke Mazur said “I played in a few tournaments where college coaches would sit on the sidelines writing down stats and often I was approached by them and asked if I wanted to tour their campuses and come see their team in action. Marymount’s coaches asked me to visit and since I live locally I took a tour and loved the school and the team.”

Men’s lacrosse has since finished their fall ball season and the coaches visit some of the last tournaments of the season in hopes of finding more players that could visit in the spring time and get to see the team play at the highest level.