Senior Superlatives: A Nod to the Class of '08
Aug. 5, 2008
Lacrosse Magazine's annual high school wrap, including season-end boys' and girls' lacrosse rankings, appears in the August issue. This year, LM poured over the best and most unique high school seniors - many whose college exploits will almost certainly flood these pages in the future - and gave them due recognition.
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Most Inseparable
Kacie and Kelly Connors
Radnor (Pa.) • Vanderbilt
 Radnor's Kelly Connors and twin sister Kacie are headed to Vanderbilt this fall.  |
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Tom and Matt Palasek
Rocky Point (N.Y.) • Johns Hopkins
It was sibling synergy at its best. In the second overtime of the Long Island Class B championship game, senior Tom has the ball behind the Garden City goal. He starts moving around the right side, makes a quick flip of a pass to junior brother Matt on the crease, and the winning goal is in the back of the net. The combination clicked well enough to lead Rocky Point to its first state title in 2008. After one year apart, the duo will be reunited in Baltimore at Johns Hopkins in 2010.
 Hawaii native William Sandkuhler IV found Washington College by way of the Hebron Academy in Maine. |
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Cami Kramer
Vero Beach (Fla.) • Johns Hopkins
This talented midfielder may be one of the best ever from the state of Florida and becomes Johns Hopkins' first recruit from the Sunshine State. Kramer led Vero Beach High School to three consecutive state championships (2006-08) and set the school's single-season record with 77 goals.
William Sandkuhler IV
Hebron Academy (Maine) • Washington (Md.) College
Three and a half years after his parents brought him from Hawaii to Maine's Hebron Academy, Sandkuhler took the podium as the speaker at his commencement ceremony. Addressing his fellow graduates, his talk focused on the theme of "Ke anu," which means "path" in Hawaiian. Fitting of a trailblazer, he closed with these words, "so class, remember, if opportunity doesn't come knocking, build the door." Sandkuhler will play defense at Washington (Md.) College next year.
Most Likely to Succeed
Allyson Carey
John Carroll (Md.) • Vanderbilt
Vanderbilt women's lacrosse coach Cathy Swezey would rather recruit good players from great high school programs than perhaps better players from middle-of-the-pack programs. "They just have a different drive," Swezey says. In Allyson Carey, she secured the best of both worlds. Widely regarded as the top recruit in the nation, Carey (52g, 37a, 48 GBs) led John Carroll to a Interscholastic Athletic Association of Maryland (IAAM) championship, and has all the physical tools to be an instant
 John Carroll's Ally Carey has all the physical tools to make an immediate impact at Vanderbilt. |
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Jeff Cohen
Syosset (N.Y.) • Harvard
Funny things happened March 18 and May 19 -- Jeff Cohen did not score a goal.
It's newsworthy when Long Island's all-time leading scorer fails to find the cage, most of all to him. He kept a news clipping of Syosset's March 18 loss to Garden City on his bedroom wall, then helped avenge the May 19 loss to Oceanside a week later with six goals in the rematch, a Nassau County Class A quarterfinal.
Cohen led the Braves, a No. 4 seed in their county, all the way to the New York state championship game, where they fell to West Genesee. His 260 career goals, dating back to his varsity debut as an eighth-grader in 2004, are the most in Long Island history. Syosset became just the second Long Island champion from Nassau County in the last 20 years.
Now, the visions are of Cohen and former Garden City gun Dean Gibbons linking up at Harvard, where head coach John Tillman waits with equal anticipation.
"He's everything you could ask for in a recruit," Tillman said of Cohen. "He brings a skill set and track record, with a body that's strong enough to withstand the difficult freshman year. He's got some things going for him that a typical freshman doesn't...I think he's excited about taking his game to another level."
Class Brain
Tyler Fiorito
McDonogh (Md.) • Princeton
 Princeton-bound Tyler Fiorito has a cerebral approach between the pipes. |
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"Coach Metzbower says it allows him to focus on what he wants to talk to me about," Fiorito joked about Princeton assistant Dave Metzbower.
Fiorito has always been more cerebral than other goalies. When he was 9, his father asked him if he wanted to wear shin guards. He refused, not because he relishes the sting, but because of physics. He noticed during an indoor lacrosse game that rebounds ricocheted uncontrollably off the opposing goalie's shin guards back to the attack, whereas he could feel where a rebound might carom off his shinbone.
The bilateral approach has worked well for Fiorito. He led McDonogh to a 16-6 mark with 293 saves and a .714 save percentage this year, while putting the finishing touches on a 4.0 GPA and joining the prestigious McDonogh Chapter of the Cum Laude Society. Fiorito will begin the fall in Princeton's School of Engineering and Applied Science with an interest in operations research and financial engineering - using computer programs to develop business models.
"I can memorize stuff very easily. That's how I get by," Fiorito said. "Friends make fun of me. They say I have a photographic mind."
Alicia Darnell
Pelham Memorial (N.Y.)
Darnell's body of work came in the classroom. She placed second out of 1,646 entries at the prestigious Siemens Competition in Math, Science and Technology. Darnell researched the molecular origins of Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS), commonly known as Lou Gehrig's disease. She tried to identify alternative splicing defects that could ultimately lead to ALS. During her spare time, she edited the student newspaper, served as president of the science honors society and as a senator in the student association, and, found some time to squeeze in some varsity lacrosse.
Best Enemies
Jennifer Doran (Peters Township, Pa.) and Lori Banky (Mount Lebanon, Pa.)
Cincinnati
Lori Banky and Jennifer Doran used to draw against each other in high school, playing for Western Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic League rivals Mount Lebanon and Peters Township. The two schools split the last four WPIAL titles, with Peters winning the last two. Doran had four goals in this year's 10-5 championship win, so perhaps playing on the same field as Banky brings out the best in her.
That's what University of Cincinnati coach Lellie Swords is hoping. Doran and Banky will play their college ball as teammates, not rivals, helping to launch the Bearcats' nascent program. Doran, who set a school record with 273 career goals, will stay at midfield while Banky switches to attack. Either way, this Pittsburgh pair should steel up the offensive end of the Bearcats' game.
 Brother Rice's Joe Fontanesi is Maryland-bound, while former teammate Andrew Cote is Johns Hopkins-bound. |
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Joe Fontanesi (Maryland) and Andrew Cote (Johns Hopkins)
Brother Rice (Mich.)
How appropriate that Inside Lacrosse has unveiled its "Day of Rivals" doubleheader to include Army-Navy and Hopkins-Maryland at M&T Bank Stadium in Baltimore in April 2009. Folks in Birmingham, Mich., will certainly be embattled when they watch on TV.
Fontanesi is the more heralded of the two. He scored 35 goals and added 31 assists for state champion Brother Rice, which went 23-0 in-state. It was the school's sixth consecutive state title and 12th in the last 14 years.
Fontanesi, head coach Rob Ambrose told The Eccentric, "was probably perceived as our most dangerous offensive threat" and "was a marked man all year."
Cote, a defenseman, said he committed to Hopkins because, "no matter who you are on the team, you're unified for a common goal," according to Michigan Lacrosse. Even if it means beating a friend-turned-foe.
Hardest to Get
Josie Owen
Severn (Md.) • Virginia
 Severn's Josie Owen took her time choosing schools, and has a bright future at Virginia. |
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"I got really lucky," Owens said. "They didn't have a problem with me saying I want to wait."
Owen entertained Georgetown, Princeton and Virginia before signing with UVA. She netted 37 goals, 36 assists and 60 ground balls for the 12-6 Admirals.
"Being prepared and seeing what colleges you like is a good thing, but not by your freshman year," Owen said. "You're still going through puberty."
Hunter Rodgers
Brophy Prep (Ariz.) • Johns Hopkins
Hunter Rodgers is a tough guy to pin down. The Arizona attacker began his high school career at Chaparral before transferring to Brophy Prep before his junior year. Then he committed to Duke before making an 11th hour switch to Johns Hopkins.
The Blue Jays were lucky to get him. Rodgers stands 6'3". He led the Arizona Youth Lacrosse League Division I and broke a school record with 59 goals and 28 assists in his senior year. With the Broncos, Rodgers twice beat Chaparral in the state finals, including this year's 9-8 victory.
Most All-Around
C.J. Costabile
New Fairfield (Conn.) • Duke
Craig James Costabile is omnipresent. How else do you explain defenseman - yes, a defenseman - with 35 goals, 25 assists and a 77.3-percent success rate on faceoffs? Costabile roamed from the crease to do just about everything, always with a long pole, for the 23-0 Rebels, who were seldom challenged en route to a Connecticut Class S championship. He had three goals and four assists in a 17-7 win over defending champ Weston in the title game. The same went for the U.S. under-19 team, which utilized Costabile on the wings and in close, but also to spell faceoff specialist Matt Dolente. Costabile was 4-of-4 on faceoffs in Team USA's gold medal-clinching victory over Canada.
"He's an attackman playing defense," New Fairfield coach Marty Morgan told the Hartford Courant.
Costabile finished his high school career with 89 goals and 88 assists.
 Brighton's Rachel Ballatori, a two-time All-American, brings a stellar resume to Hopkins. |
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Brighton (N.Y.) • Johns Hopkins
Rachel Ballatori's precociousness surfaced as early as pre-school, when officials pushed her ahead of her peer group. It continued when she first picked up a French horn in fourth grade. And then also as a freshman in high school, when Brighton girls' lacrosse coach Rich Curtis threw her stick during a halftime tirade and told her, "You don't miss shots!" Ballatori seldom did.
She capped off an impressive high school career on the field with 69 goals and 19 assists in 2008, leading the Barons to their 11th straight Section V title and third New York State Class B state finals in four years.
Perhaps more impressive, however, was everything else Ballatori did.
In addition to the steady diet of high school, club and tournament lacrosse, she played competitive French horn, as well as classical and pop piano. She also helped coach area youth programs as part of a community service slate that included piano recitals for the elderly and disabled and fundraising projects for everything from animal shelters to diabetes. Ballatori, a two-time US Lacrosse high school All-American, was also a member of Brighton's model United Nations club.
Most Athletic
Shannon Smith
West Babylon (N.Y.) • Northwestern
Smith's lacrosse exploits are well-documented: she scored a New York record 505 goals and added 224 assists during her career as an attacker and midfielder at West Babylon, where she also was named a three-time US Lacrosse All-American. Newsday's 2008 Long Island Player of the Year garnered All-LI mention twice and all-county designation four times, and she helped the 2007 U.S. U-19 team capture the IFWLA world championship.
Want more?
Smith was a four-year letterwinner in soccer and a five-year letterwinner in basketball. Just for something extra, she played a year of varsity tennis, too.
Four times, West Babylon named her its Female Athlete of the Year.
"She's a competitor. She's a tough athlete. She's a total package," said West Babylon athletic director Lou Howard.
Think Kelly Amonte Hiller will put her to work next season?
 Greenwich defenseman Jon Meyer eschewed big-college football to play lacrosse, which he'll do at Princeton. |
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Greenwich (Conn.) • Princeton
Score one for lacrosse.
Meyers was a highly-sought fullback and linebacker coming out of Greenwich High. Internet video shows the burly, 6-foot-1, 220-pounder running through the tackles of his Connecticut counterparts. All the big boys wanted him, including Michigan and Florida. His father, Glenn, was a linebacker and nose guard for the Gators 30 years ago.
So what did the two-sport standout do?
Meyers eschewed the Bowl Championship Series for Ivy League lacrosse, where he will suit up for Princeton next season and play defense for coach Bill Tierney. Meyers was an all-state defenseman for Greenwich.
"I wanted to be at the best place I could be," Meyers told Sports Illustrated. "Whether it was the best in football, the best in lacrosse or the best in academics, I didn't want to cut any corners."
And he won't. Meyers isn't giving up football. But the biggest crowds he'll play in front of will be at the lacrosse final four -- if he can help the Tigers return there for the first time since 2004.
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