By Chris Goldberg
Phillylacrosse.com, Posted 12/15/09
Salesianum School (DE) junior defenseman Ryan Kilpatrick has made a verbal commitment to play Division I lacrosse at the University of North Carolina.
Kilpatrick, of West Chester, led the Sals to a perfect 17-0 season and the Delaware state championship in 2009. He was named All-State.
Kilpatrick was listed at the No. 21 spot for Inside Lacrosse’s Young Guns Rising Juniors during the summer. The 6-0, 200-pounder also was a captain for the Duke’s Lacrosse Club, helping the program to a Champ Camp title last summer. Kilpatrick also attended Nike Blue Chip Rising Junior camp.
Kilpatrick said he also considered Princeton, Duke, Notre Dame and Georgetown. He plans to major in Business at North Carolina.
“All of those schools were great but when I went down (to Chapel Hill) I liked coach (Joe) Breschi and the staff, and the players were awesome,” he said. “They were talking about trying to get to the National championship and that sounded like something I wanted.
“They have a great business school and that interested me. It was the best fit lacrosse- and academics-wise.”
Kilpatrick also is a standout football player (running back). He rushed for nearly 2,000 yards and led Salesianum to its third state title in five years earlier this month when he scored on a 2-yard TD line with 2:20 left to give the Sals a 27-20 win over St. Mark’s.
Kilpatrick is the second Philly junior to commit to North Carolina; Penn Charter attackman Joey Sankey committed in the summer. Kilpatrick is the 16th Philly junior to commit to a Division I college.
Kilpatrick is one of two Sals that are headed to a Division I program. Senior goalie Dan Rodgers has signed with Drexel. Also, senior defenseman Mark Cyron has signed with Division II power Merrimack.
Kilpatrick also is excited that the Sals will meet two out-of-state powers this year – Pennsylvania heavyweight Malvern Prep and Maryland’s Calvert Hall.
“Our first goal is to get back to the state championship game,” said Kilpatrick. “We lost a lot of great players, but we have a lot of great guys coming back and some younger players, too.
“We have a real good goalie who is going to Drexel in Dan Rodgers. Playing against teams like Malvern Prep and Calvert Hall, we’ll get to see exactly how we stack up.”
