Learn more about the top High School lacrosse players in the Carolinas through the

Team 91 Lacrosse Player Spotlight Series.

How did the school you chose separate itself from the others you considered?

Gettysburg was one of the final schools I visited. Ahead of my visit the coaches showed a lot of interest and I knew this school was high on my list. Almost immediately after I finished my visit, I knew it was the place for me.

Along with the great academics and opportunity to compete for multiple National Championships, Coach Toner and Coach Cardile discussed with me how I could make an impact on the team and where they saw me fitting.

How would you describe your recruiting process overall?

Honestly, very stressful. My process started out slow, I didn’t go on my first visit until late June. I saw all these other players in my positions committing and it felt as if my options were dwindling.

In the end however, my coaches and family reminded me that everything was going to fall into place, and it did! I could not be more grateful for how things turned out.

What was your favorite part of the recruiting process? 

The whole process was surreal to me, but if I had to pick one moment it would be when I committed. Being there with my Dad and telling Coach Toner I committed was a moment I’ll never forget. The feeling of all my hard-work and time spent playing lacrosse paying off was a huge relief.

What opportunities and information assisted you during your recruiting process?

Coaches from all around the 91 Program gave me feedback on schools that reached out and helped me learn more about the schools then what I already knew.

Did you feel like you had support from the Team 91 staff during your process? If so, how?

I would say I 100% felt supported throughout my recruiting process.

Ryan consistently contacted me about where I was looking, asking who reached out, and provided me feedback on all the programs we discussed.

What individual or showcase events, if any, did you find the most beneficial during your process?

I only attended a couple of showcases and what I felt benefited me the most was the Nike National All-Star Games.

I got to play with kids from all over the South and the sidelines were filled with Coaches every game.

What would you tell younger players or parents to help them prepare for the recruiting process?

Be patient and don’t rush into anything. I became stressed out about my options at first and as time went on more coaches reached out and the right school came around for me.

Owen had played for another lacrosse program for several years but decided to come to our tryouts after his freshman year. He was a good player with a good stick and a solid athlete. We had seen him play some before the tryout but not a ton and we really weren’t that familiar with him. This was our first time really watching him live for more than 1-2 plays.

Tryouts can also be really challenging for us because we are evaluating a ton of different players in a short period of time. Our general philosophy is that if we are going to pick a new player for a team, he needs to be clearly better than the player that he would be replacing and sometimes we need to make that decision on a handful of guys in a 1-night tryout. It can be difficult.

At the tryout, we were making our way through the evaluation process and were down to the last few defensemen. There was 1 spot left between 3 guys and we were putting them in drills against each other just so that we could see them compete against each other. There was a ground ball about 10 feet from where I was standing, and it was between Owen and another defenseman we were considering. Owen did not win the ground ball. He got bodied and the other defenseman easily picked up the ball and moved it forward for his team.

Decision made. Owen did not make the team after that tryout as we went with the other player.

At this point, most players (and parents) would complain, point fingers, make excuses, or just go play somewhere else and never look back.

Owen didn’t do any of that. He started working his butt off all Fall after that tryout. He got in the gym and probably put on 10-15lbs of muscle. He worked on his footwork and continued to improve every part of his game. His friends that played on our teams just kept telling us about how Owen was pulling them out on nights and weekends to do 1v1s. When the Winter came around, we discussed him coming just to train with the guys. He was just looking to get better and there were no conflicts. He came out to our winter training and our 7v7 league to get as many reps as he could; he just kept getting better. He showed up every week and was always one of the hardest working guys there. He was also very good! We simply missed at tryouts, and we didn’t know the type of worker he was…it’s tough to evaluate that in a tryout.

After the Winter training sessions, we invited Owen to be on one of our teams. To be honest, we weren’t sure which team it was going to be. We had 3 teams across our 2022s and our 2023s and we had no idea which one he was going to play on, but we knew we had to find a place for him to play. He was too good, he worked too hard, and he was a guy we really wanted around. We figured we would find a place for him each weekend and he just wanted the opportunity to play against good competition.

I think he played in every event that Summer. He played with the 2022 team for 1-2 events then played with the 2023s for 1-2 events and our Varsity team (2022/2023 combo team) for 1-2 events. He never complained about what team he was playing on. He never challenged us or asked for anything. He just came out and kept getting better; simply proving to us how wrong we were at those tryouts.

Come the next tryout cycle, Owen was on the team he wanted to be on from Day 1 and made our top team in Charlotte. He made our top Team 91 South team and quickly established himself as one of the top long stick midfielders in the entire region.

I’ll always appreciate and remember how Owen handled what was without a doubt a very difficult situation. He never made an excuse, never complained and his parents were nothing but supportive throughout it all. We were fortunate to be along for the ride from that challenging tryout to his commitment to Gettysburg.

Owen’s a kid you want to root for and he’s going to do great things for the next four years!