Men’s recruit: Malvern Prep’s Thompson follows family path to Villanova

By Chris Goldberg
Phillylacrosse.com, Posted 2/10/09

Malvern Prep senior midfielder Harte Thompson has signed a letter of intent to play at Villanova University.

Thompson said his family has close ties to the school and even noted that his parents got married in the Villanova chapel.

“I kind of grew up around Villanova,” Thompson said. “My grandfather went there and some other family members went there –my parents even got married there in the chapel.

“I started looking there in the summer and when I met with (assistant) coach (Simon) Connor and head coach (Michael) Corrado I knew right away they were the coaches I wanted to be around for the next four years. Villanova is the right place for me, especially with the similar religious focus it has with Malvern Prep.”

Thompson, who plans to study business, also is excited about getting to play in the Big East. The Wildcats move to the conference next year.

“Now moving to the Big East, the team is on the upswing,” he said. “They are getting more funding.”

For now, Thompson’s focus is helping the Friars defend their Inter-Ac League championship. He said the goal of repeating is even greater since the team can no longer compete for a state championship now that the Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic Association has taken jurisdiction of boys’ lacrosse.

“Now we can’t play for the state title,” he said. “The Inter-Ac championship really is the biggest thing for us.

“Playing against Haverford School, Episcopal, Penn Charter, Chestnut Hill and Germantown Academy is really exciting.”

Thompson added that the Friars also will play a national schedule that includes Gilman, Calvert Hall and McDonogh of Maryland, Lawrenceville and St. Augustine Prep of New Jersey, Darien of Connecticut, Arapahoe of Colorado, and Hill Academy of Ontario, Canada. Then, there is the rematch against La Salle, the team that edged Malvern in the final Eastern Pennsylvania Scholastic Lacrosse Association championship game last year.

“It’s really exciting because we’ve always played some of the national powers,” Thompson said. “This year we will play almost like a college schedule with Top 25 teams. It’s pretty cool to see the kids from around the country I’ll be playing against for the next four years.”