"Albany offered everything I was looking at in a college," says Fairport senior goalie Blaze Riorden. "Great academic program. . . I love the coaching staff and I'm going to have a good opportunity to play." The All Section and Class A All-Tournament player also looked at Maryland, Drexel, Hobart, Loyola and others, but "Albany was the one for me. As soon as I stepped on campus I knew it was the spot for me."

Blaze says his recruiting trip "was amazing. All the players were cool. The coaching staff treated us like we were on the team already, so it was just an amazing experience."

Albany has been receiving a great deal of attention after recruiting some of the top players in the nation in their last few recruiting classes including Joe Resetarits (Hamburg) and the Thompson boys (Lyle, Miles and Ty from Section 3). Current seniors from Section Five who are planning to go to Albany include John Maloney and his teammate Mitch Rupp and Tyler Aycock (Pittsford). "I'm very excited to play with the best of the best and I just can't wait to get shelled in practice."

The two year varsity starter made 137 saves last year (63%) and 132 saves his sophomore year (64%) and likes to run the game outside of the goal. "I see my strength in the clearing game."
In his youth league he was an attackman, but his father, long-time youth/club coach Mike Riorden moved him to goalie. "I have to give all of the credit for my success to my Dad for making me play goalie in youth lacrosse because we didn't have one and then taking me to every tournament and paying for all my stuff. I just can't thank him enough."

Looking forward to his final year at Fairport, Blaze speaks of his team's talent. "I'm very excited for this team. I mean, the talent is just amazing. It's going to be a fun year for us. It's going to be good lacrosse that everyone's going to get to watch."