By Chris Goldberg
Phillylacrosse.com, Posted 7/25/11
Haverford School rising senior face-off specialist/midfielder Will Gural has made a commitment to play Division I lacrosse at Brown University and enter the admissions process at the Ivy League school.
Gural was the No. 2 face-off specialist behind All-American senior Joe McCallion this year for the Fords, who went 23-0 and earned the top ranking in every national poll. He won 64 percent (79 of 123) of his face-offs and then earned selection to the EPSLA Showcase and Team Philly at the Under Armour Underclassmen Games. He also was a Gait Fab 40 pick last fall at the Philly Showcase.
Gural, who plays for the Dukes’ Lacrosse Club, is the seventh Haverford School rising senior to commit to a Division I college. One of the early commits is attackman Henry Blynn, also headed to Brown.
The others are: defensemen Connor and Warner Bailey and attackman Zach Rego (Georgetown), midfielder/defenseman Will McNamara (Virginia) and midfielder Sam Rohr (Penn).
Gural plans to study Business at Brown, coached by Lars Tiffany.
“I wanted to go to the school with the best mix of academics and lacrosse,” he said. “I really liked the coaches and the size of the school. They’re looking for hard-nosed players and that attracted me; knowing they compete each game.
“I also liked the campus in Providence. You have easy access to the city, but the school is enclosed.”
Gural never took a face-off until his freshman year and then committed himself to the position heading into his sophomore season.
“I saw it as an opportunity to get onto the field,” he said. “It’s a big aspect of the game. It’s an opportunity to create some offense from unsettled situations. You can change the momentum of the game and gain possessions for your team. You can really contribute.”
Gural hopes to be a major contributor next year. The Fords lose a standout senior class, but he believes they can remain on top.
“The season was awesome,” he said. “We got up for every game and by the halfway point of the season we knew we had a chance to go undefeated.
“It was a special year. The senior leadership was the key, and every game somebody stepped up.
“This year we’ll still try to go undefeated. We have a lot of great players coming back and if we work hard and outhustle everybody, I see the possibility of doing it again.”
Note – Student-athletes applying to Ivy League schools must continue through the admissions process.
