By Chris Goldberg
Phillylacrosse.com, Posted 3/2/09
Malvern Prep senior attackman Conor Steidle has followed his family’s bloodlines 
by signing a letter of intent to play next year at the University of North Carolina.
Steidle’s father, Ward, and uncle, Brett, also played lacrosse together at North Carolina. Not everyone in the family, though, went to UNC; his mother, Jill, graduated from rival Duke.
“I have a lot of family down there, also on my mom’s side,” said Steidle. “I have been down there countless times and it was an easy choice for me. It was a good fit academically and athletically.”
Steidle comes from a great family legacy of lacrosse. His grandfather, the late Howard “Red” Steidle, was a major supporter of the sport in Philadelphia and was responsible for helping launch the Philadelphia Lacrosse Association website. Brett was a high school All-American at Harriton and an All-Atlantic Coast Conference attackman at UNC, and dad Ward was an All-State performer at Harriton in 1979.
“He was happy,” Steidle said of his father’s reaction to him choosing UNC. “But he just wanted me to go where I would fit and Carolina definitely is the place for me. It has awesome weather, too.”
Steidle, who is considering a career in business, also will join a familiar group at Chapel Hill. Already at UNC are two freshmen from last year’s Malvern Prep team, middies Chris Layne and Matt Conte. Two current Malvern juniors, goalie Andrew O’Connell and middie Ryan Creighton, also have committed to North Carolina.
“When I went down for my official visit a few weeks ago I had an awesome time,” Steidle said. “I saw the opening of the lacrosse season and met with (new) coach (Joe) Breschi. I also went to a basketball game; it was really cool.”
Steidle is confident the defending Inter-Ac League champion Friars will recover from losing a strong grup of seniors such as Layne, Conte and Matt Mackrides (Penn State).
“We lost a good amount of goal scorers,” he said. “But we’ve had practices the last couple of days and things are looking good.
“I think our defense will be pretty strong, The key is scoring some goals.”
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