By Chris Goldberg
Phillylacrosse.com, Posted 7/8/10
Conestoga rising senior midfielder Kevin Rudd has made a verbal commitment to play Division I lacrosse at Bryant University in Smithfield, R.I.
Rudd was an Honorable Mention All-Central League pick for the Pioneers this year, helping them finish 24-2 while claiming the Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic Association (PIAA) championship with a 10-6 win over La Salle.
Rudd, who plays club lacrosse for Mesa Fresh 2011, plans to study business at Bryant and was also impressed with head coach Mike Pressler. The fourth-year mentor, formerly, the head coach at Duke, is also the US National coach.
“A big factor was coach Pressler,” said Rudd. “I am going there primarily for the business school and the fact that he is such a prestigious coach.”
Pressler continues to sign Philly players. Rudd joins Episcopal Academy rising senior attackman Shane Morrell as Philly recruits for 2011; the class of 2010 features Episcopal Academy midfielder Gerry Smith.
This year’s freshman class at Bryant included defensemen Mason Poli (Downingtown East) and Mike Rauchut (Penn Charter), attackman JK Poirier (Malvern Prep/all-Northeast Conference Rookie team selection) and midfielder Ian Correia (St. Joseph’s Prep). Also, rising senior Joe Rauchut (Penn Charter) is a starting defenseman at Bryant.
Rudd, an Honor Roll student, said the Pioneers set a goal of winning the state championship back in 2009 when they fell to La Salle in the PIAA finals.
“It was kind of hard losing and when we got back there (this time) and got down, 3-2, we were in the same situation,” he said, noting the Pioneers had a similar start in the 2009 title game. “But we came on strong and proved to everyone we could do it.”
Next year Conestoga loses a number of seniors to Division I colleges, but returns a strong rising junior class and three other Division I recruits in the rising senior class – long stick midfielder Brian Dailey (Duke), midfielder Tanner Scott (Duke) and defenseman Ben Karr (Ohio State).
