Image Credit: Brandon Hillier
“I started [lacrosse] at a young age, I think probably like four or five actually. My brother started playing, he gave tee-ball a chance, and never really took off with it [until he found lacrosse], and when it was time for me to pick a sport, I guess I was kind of born into lacrosse,” says Sam.
Although they share the same sport, they play on opposite sides of the field. Nathan was a Men’s Collegiate Lacrosse Association (MCLA) All-American honourable mention defenceman “locked in the defensive end his entire career,” while Sam “patrols the whole field” as a midfielder, and is known for his penchant for offence.
Another thing they share is the school they attend and play for. Nathan graduated from SFU in 2013 with an environmental sciences degree. However, they never had a chance to play with each other, as Nathan graduated from the team the year before Sam played his freshman year.
Initially Sam followed his brother into an academic field as well — geography — but he instead decided that he was more interested in the health sciences.
“I’m pretty interested in biology so I thought maybe this is right down my alley,” explains Sam. “It was a bit of a tough decision because obviously my mom wasn’t happy with me going, ‘Hey, I’m going to switch majors now,’ because I was already a year and a half into geography, but it just felt right.
“I think my health science-related class was probably Bio 101, and everything went well. I had a really good semester,” he adds. “[It was] kind of like a sign, like, ‘you’re kind of meant to do something in this.’”
Sam’s major wasn’t the only the thing he changed his mind on. Before coming to SFU, he almost commited to the Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT), where he would have played on their NCAA Division III lacrosse team, before a gut feeling told him to stay home.
“I did have a few offers to play NCAA lacrosse in the States,” he notes. SFU’s lacrosse team is not a varsity team, and therefore not an NCAA team. “I was actually scheduled to go and sign a letter of intent with RIT [. . .] but I just pulled out last second, and I’m like, ‘I’m going to stay close to home, I’m going to play lacrosse for my hometown university, and carry on the tradition my brother started.’
“I had a really good offer, but I don’t know, there’s not too much to say about it, it was just kind of an impulse decision, I wasn’t really feeling it.”
He notes that the decision was bittersweet, as he noticed the success RIT had while playing on the SFU roster — reaching at least the NCAA National Championship quarterfinals every year since 2011, and making the finals in 2013, Sam’s sophomore year.
However, he doesn’t regret the decision. Far from it — he has embraced his role as a key playmaker and goal scorer, winning the Pacific Northwest Collegiate Lacrosse League (SFU’s division) freshman of the year award, with 34 goals and 39 points in his first year.
This early success can be attributed to a goal he made in his senior year of high school: to drive play instead of waiting for the play to come to him.
“[Lacrosse] didn’t really spark until about Grade 12,” Sam explains. “I was kind of a backseat player most of my life, [I] didn’t really take any initiative to be the guy that goes out there and puts five or six goals in the net a game. It just happened in Grade 12, I said to myself, ‘I want to be an elite player now,’ and I had a pretty good [year].
“Whenever I have the ball, I want to score, I want to set someone up to score,” he adds.
The smooth transition to his freshman year at SFU was aided by the fact that his coach from the Burnaby Mountain Selects — an “elite lacrosse touring program” he joined in Grade 12 — was SFU Lacrosse head coach Brent Hoskins.
“It made the transition really easy [because] our relationship had already been built,” Sam explains. “It really affected my game too, just because I already know the coach, I already know the staff and a lot of the players, I almost felt as a freshman coming in that I was a sophomore [. . .] you don’t have that much to prove because everybody knows who you are.”
After the season is over, Sam is contemplating taking a break from lacrosse — even playing soccer, a sport he quit playing in Grade 11 to focus on lacrosse. However, for now his focus is on winning a championship with SFU’s lacrosse team.
“It’s been such a good ride,” Sam muses. “You don’t want to have a bad game when you’re a senior because [. . .] that’s what people are going to remember.
“[I’m] to come out firing on all cylinders.”
FUN FACT:
Favourite Food:
“That’s a tough one,” Sam responded. “I would probably have to go with sushi [. . .] I tried sushi when I was like seven or eight and I’ve never looked back since. I have sushi like two or three times a week.”
