Man found dead in river at US Naval Academy identified as former Haverford School lacrosse player

Phillylacrosse.com, Posted 2/19/14

The lacrosse community is mourning the loss of United States Naval Academy senior Max Allen, a former Haverford School lacrosse player who was identified as the victim today in a deadly car accident that occurred last weekend on the Navy campus in Annapolis, Md.

Naval Academy officials said Allen, 25, who played lacrosse for four years at Haverford School in the mid-2000s, was found dead after apparently crashing his SUV into College Creek, a Severn River tributary.

Allen’s SUV was discovered in the water Sunday after a passerby noticed part of the post-and-chain link fence along the water near Nimitz Library was missing, the Baltimore Sun reported. Officials do not know when he crashed the SUV.

“It’s all just kind of a shock,” said Haverford School assistant coach Mark Petrone in the Baltimore Sun. Petrone said Allen was recruited to play lacrosse as a freshman after showing outstanding talents as a soccer player.

Allen originally went to Virginia Tech on a soccer scholarship, but then decided to attend th Naval Academy.

The Washington Post reported that Allen was an oceanography major living in Chesterfield, Va., and was expected to serve as a naval flight officer after graduation and commissioning in May. He played club soccer and was a member of the Italian American and Japanese American clubs at Navy, the Post reported.

Petrone told the Washington Post that Allen learned the sport of lacrosse quickly and had the “right attitude about it all … he had a lot to learn right away. He was just a resilient kid.”
Allen was an Inter-Ac League MVP in soccer.