Lacrosse is an ever-growing game with talented players from all corners of the country to play at the collegiate level. However, some states stand out as the hotbeds of the sport. Maryland, New York, Pennsylvania and Connecticut dominate the high school and youth levels and much of the college landscape.
Yet for Marist men’s lacrosse, several of the team’s most important players hail from a different state and region: North Carolina.
Marist’s location in New York makes recruiting players from areas north or south of Poughkeepsie, including Long Island, Westchester County and Albany, an obvious choice. But for head coach Keegan Wilkinson, North Carolina is an area where his staff finds players who fit the mold to play at Marist.
“That’s one of the biggest things about this program, it used to be dominated by the tri-state but when you look at our roster, there are contributors from all over the country,” said Wilkinson.
Two of the Red Foxes’ top five scorers hail from North Carolina: freshman attackman Collin Patrick and junior midfielder Sam Ferrel, each of whom added goals in the Red Foxes’ win over Siena Wednesday night.
Patrick in particular faces a tall task in his first season: replacing the production of Jojo Pirreca, who is fourth in goals in Marist history and eighth in points. Patrick currently sits third on the team in points and groundballs.
This is far from the first time a North Carolina talent has been expected to step in and produce.
“The North Carolina pipeline has been strong for us dating back to Gannon Morrison. He was one of the best midfielders in the conference,” said Wilkinson.
Morrison, an attackman from Cary, N.C. attended Cardinal Gibbons High School and was a three-time All-MAAC first-team player from 2016-2018. Morrison earned All-MAAC rookie team honors his freshman season in 2015 and was the first midfielder in Marist history to reach 150 career points.
Marist’s starting goalie, junior Noble Smith, is from Advance, N.C. and recorded 15 saves in Wednesday’s win. Junior faceoff specialist Dylan Bedell, a Charlotte, N.C. native, stepped into the starting role in his freshman campaign and has been a presence at the faceoff X ever since. This season, Bedell has won 51% of his faceoffs, good for third highest in the MAAC.
Sophomore defender Joshua Arneson of Holly Spring, NC, stepped into a starting role on defense and is fourth on the team in ground balls. His brother, Noah, is also a senior defender on the team, further cementing the North Carolina-to-Marist pipeline.
In Wilkinson’s 2024 recruiting class, two more players from North Carolina will come to Marist for their college career: Brady Dolan, a three-star attackman from Cardinal Gibbons High School and three-star faceoff specialist Joshua Smith.
Last year, Wilkinson traveled down to North Carolina to watch Patrick face Dolan in the state semi-final on May 16. While attending, he sat with Joshua Arneson and Joshua Smith to watch two future Marist players battle.
Looking further ahead to the 2025 recruiting class, attackman Jayce Konowitz of Middle Creek High School in Apex, N.C. is next in line, as he is already committed to Marist.
North Carolina is located in a region where the sport can grow exponentially, especially when the Premier Lacrosse League (PLL) is putting a team in North Carolina to represent the state and that region. Starting this season (June-September), the PLL assigned each team to a home city; the Chaos Lacrosse Club team has now become the Carolina Chaos, and will be based in Charlotte.
Edited by Luke Sassa
Photos from Jaylen Rizzo
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