Freshman gives Knights bright future

Much like senior attacker Scott Klimchak, who has been the focal point of the Rutgers men’s lacrosse team’s offense, senior defenders Nick Contino and Andrew Parrilla have been mainstays in head coach Brian Brecht’s starting lineup since he took over the program.

Whether it’s after Thursday’s encounter against No. 1 Denver in the Big East semifinals or further down the line, the Scarlet Knights will lose two of their defensive stars and team captains.

Moving to the newly established Big Ten lacrosse conference next season, Rutgers will require its younger defenders to create themselves and take on larger roles.

Although Brecht said the team can never replace the likes of Contino and Parrilla, he believes postseason experience for the younger players could prove invaluable.

“Opportunities to go and play in the postseason, they should be — and we expect them to be — a year better, not just a year older,” Brecht said. “So the experience they’re receiving is for them individually and for us as a program defensively and as a team. It’s immeasurable.”

One of the defenders expected to take on a larger role next season is freshman Chris Groel. Born in New Jersey, Groel moved with his family to California in the year 2000 and became a star defender at Palisades Charter High School.

A two-time U.S. Lacrosse All-American, Groel wanted to attend a college where he could make an impact right away. With no west coast Division I lacrosse programs aside from Denver, the Los Angeles native was forced to look towards the east coast.

Going back to his New Jersey roots and seeing a promising program looking to grow, Groel pounced on his opportunity to wear a Rutgers uniform.

His decision has paid dividends. Though Groel has made just two starts in 14 games, the 6-foot-3 defender rotates in from the sidelines and has four caused turnovers, 21 groundballs and a goal to his name.

Along with sophomore midfielder Zack Sikora, Groel is also one of Rutgers’ most promising long-poles.

Although Groel has played just one season on the east coast in college lacrosse, experience playing in tournaments at the high school level has shown him a distinct difference in style.

“Growing up in my high school in the whole west coast Los Angeles area, it’s still growing there, so not a lot of kids start at young ages,” Groel said. “Like for instance here, with like kindergarten and elementary school programs, so I mean the skill’s a little less, but it’s still just as good with athletes so it’s still competitive.”

Though Groel may need time to adjust to the east coast style of play, aside from the colder weather, the change from California to New Jersey was a seamless transition.

Being the only west coast player on the team, some of Groel’s cultural preferences may differ from that of his east coast peers, but he insists his teammates never tease.

“No, no, not at all,” Groel said with a grin. “If anything they’re jealous, but no they’ll all come out and they’ll experience [west coast life], and yeah it should be nice.”

With 14 seniors leaving for graduation when the season ends, Groel and others will be called on to assume leadership roles.

While Groel hopes to take on that role and continue to grow the Rutgers program into one of the best in the country, he remains pleased with the growth of the sport in the west coast.

As the sport’s popularity continues to increase, Groel believes it’s just a matter of time before the roles reverse and east coast kids move to west coast programs.

“I think it really could happen, I don’t see why it can’t,” Groel said. “I feel like kids from the east coast would love to come out to California in the warm weather and play at a Division I school like USC or UCLA, schools like that. So I think it will really just grow and get bigger and bigger and eventually have full Division I programs.”

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