Men’s recruit: Chestnut Hill Academy goalie/midfielder Booker commits to Brown

By Chris Goldberg
Phillylacrosse.com, Posted 6/7/10

Chestnut Hill Academy rising senior Corbin Booker has committed to play Division I lacrosse at Brown University.

Booker has the rare ability to play both goaltender and midfield. He was an all-Inter-Ac League

Honorable Mention pick last year as a goalie and plays midfield in the summer for the Duke’s Lacrosse Club. He said Brown will give him an opportunity to try out at both positions.

“It’s a tossup,” he said. “I want to try out at both and see where I am. I have been playing goalie since eighth grade and I got into it more when I was a freshman and we ran out of goalies due to injury. I had to step in and play against teams like Malvern Prep and Haverford School.

“I like both positions. They offer two different things. At middie you get to score goals and as a goalie you are taking away goals. I like taking the opportunity to see things from the other end.”

Booker also considered Yale, Dartmouth, Lehigh, Colgate and Cornell.

An Honor Roll student, he plans to major in Pre-med or Business Management. He would like to one day run his own practice as a surgeon or dentist.

“I like the campus,” he said. “It’s not rural and not entirely urban; it’s the way I would like a college campus to be. I liked coach (Lars) Tiffany and the assistants (Errol Wilson and Brad Ross), and the guys I met were great. I am excited to get up there.”

Booker’s student guide at Brown was freshman Wills Curley, a goalie from Malvern Prep. This year the team went 8-6 and reached the inaugural Ivy League tournament.

Booker said playing goalie has helped him understand the game more at midfield.

“I like both, but I focused on goalie a lot more because that’s where they needed me at school,” he said. “I think seeing things from the defensive side has also helped my offense. It has helped my lacrosse IQ.”

Booker said the Hillers should be a much-improved team next year.

“We had three seniors and we were a really young team,” he said. “We got to see what everyone is capable of and our underclassmen were striving (to improve).”

Booker wishes to thank his youth club team, Maplewood Lacrosse Club (N.J.), his parents, Stephanie and Terry, the Duke’s LC and his high school coaches Mike DelGrande and Highley Thompson. He also said he has dedicated his efforts to the memory of his late Aunt, Stacie Bevacqua, who passed away several years ago to breast cancer, as well as his Uncle Vinnie and cousin Jason.