Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations

A recruiter's gold mine

Team 91 Lacrosse/Current SU attack Joey Spallina in his club lacrosse days.

Long Island Lacrosse Club Team 91 was founded with one goal in mind: “to provide an unparalleled level of teaching, that which is not seen in other organizations.” The club was founded by SU freshman Joey Spallina’s Uncle Brian, and has produced countless Division I commits, including seven players on this year’s Syracuse squad.

“There were a couple guys now that I didn’t even realize I’ve played against my whole life,” Spallina said. “It’s cool to reconnect with them and to play with them.”

Besides Spallina, midfielders Michael Leo, Tyler Cordes, Brandon Aviles, and Dylan Sageder along with defenders Nick Caccamo and Jake Murphy played their travel ball with Team 91. So did a few Duke standouts.

Attackmen Brennan O’Neill and midfielder Andrew McAdorey are the Blue Devils’ leading and second-leading scorers respectively. Both of them played at the same high school, and they also played for Team 91 with a few current Orange. Spallina, O’Neill, and McAdorey were all on an attack line together in 2020, and Caccamo was a defender on that squad as well.

“I’ve played with those guys since I was in first grade,” Spallina said. “To now be able to play against them is a bit weird, but it’s cool in a way.”

If you want to know just how prestigious the club is, Team 91 has been ranked as the number one lacrosse club in the country by US Club Lax for four straight years. The award has only been given for four years as well.

“It was the best ever,” Spallina said. “That team was unreal, it was the best team to ever play, playing with all those guys and to see us all playing against each other and with each other in college is awesome.”

A week and a half from now, Team 91 will hold its “College Gameday” when Syracuse visits Hofstra. The Pride have a trio of program alumni themselves.

Right now, Syracuse currently has three commits in the Class of ‘23 and one in the Class of ‘24 that currently play for Team 91.