By Chris Goldberg
Phillylacrosse.com, Posted 1/25/10
Germantown Academy senior goalie Steve Oppenheimer has committed to play Division III lacrosse at Cabrini College.
Oppenheimer started last year for the Patriots and also plays for Rebel Elite club, helping it place sixth in the recent Dick’s Sporting Goods Tournament of Champions in Wesley Chapel, Fla.
Oppenheimer plans to study graphic design at Cabrini and already has grand ideas for a career.
“I liked the location and it was close to home,” he said. “And when I went to visit, I liked the graphic arts program as well as the opportunity to play lacrosse.
“I want to get into sneaker design. I have had a sneaker collection for a while and I have a passion for working for a company like Nike.”
Oppenheimer has had the chance to learn about sneakers and sporting goods quite easily – his family owns Wave One, a lacrosse and field hockey apparel store located in Conshohocken as well as in two South Jersey locations.
Oppenheimer said he considered Division I Quinnipiac – where older brother Jack was the leading scorer as a sophomore last season – but Steve liked the lure of playing for a team that has won nine straight Colonial States Athletic Conference titles and is nationally ranked every year.
“That was one of the biggest reasons for my decision,” Oppenheimer said. “My brother was trying to get me to go to Quinnipiac with him, but I wanted to be able to try and win a national championship and Cabrini gives me the best opportunity to do that.”
Oppenheimer said he became a goalie at the middle school level when his family formed the Conshohocken Bulldogs Youth Lacrosse league.
“I was a huge baseball player until fifth grade,” he said. “I always wanted to play lacrosse and my brother (Jack) was the first out of the family to play. Watching him made my decision to start playing.
“I started playing attack and I always wanted to play goalie, but my first couple coaches never let me. Then my dad started the Conshohocken program and I made the change to goalie.”
Oppenheimer was the No. 1 for Rebel Elite in Florida at the Dick’s tourney. It was the second staright year the team finished in the top six at pne of the year’s top club tournaments.
“Any time you finish in the top 10 in a tourney like that it’s good,” Oppenheimer said.
Oppenheimer is optimistic that GA can improve this year after going 6-12 last year (2-6 in the Inter-Ac league). The team returns most of its players and includes two juniors that have committed to Division I colleges, defenseman Bobby Tait (Syracuse) and attackman Beau Jones (Delaware).
“I think we’ll definitely do better, we didn’t graduate too many players,” he said. “Our expectations should be much higher. The guys got their legs under them form playing those teams last year.”
Photo by Andrew Sabia
