Estabrooks and Gardner Sign NLIs at Victor

November 30, 2016 -

Two boys Varsity Lacrosse players and two girls Varsity Lacrosse players joined four other seniors for a celebration at Victor as they honored the eight who signed National Letters of Intent.

Attackman Zach Estabrooks will attend Seton Hill. Matt Gardner, a long-stick midfielder, will go to Le Moyne. For the girls, midfielder Kaci Messier will move on to Notre Dame and A/D Sydney Reed will play for Duquesne.

As usual, the after-school meeting was hosted by Victor Athletic Director Ron Whitcomb, who, after welcoming the parents and friends, described the eight students with three words, "Character, Class and Grit" and pointed out that "They have worked for this for years."

Zack Estabrooks

The recruiting efforts by Assistant Coach Chris Isle made a difference for the senior attackman who also considered Le Moyne, Sienna and St. Joseph. "He was an unreal guy and helped make an easy decision. I visited the campus and met the team and it was awesome. I loved being there."

Seton Hill has been recruiting in Section Five for a while and currently has four players on the roster including Merritt Bailey (Marcus Whitman), Justin Goodrich (Hilton), Max Eisemann (Irondequoit) and, from Victor (last year), Dylan Smith. "It will be nice, going there as a freshman, to know some sophomores on the team."

Victor had about a dozen seniors signing a year ago. When asked about the difference, Zack said "Graduating people like Jamie Trimboli and Ryan [Maloney], it's hard, but the juniors we have this year, they are athletic and I think we should be pretty good this year."

Matt Gardner

"I picked Le Moyne because it is a very competitive Division II lacrosse school and [although] Syracuse is right around the corner with it's big school atmosphere, the class size at Le Moyne is small. He also looked at providence, Hartford, Seaton Hill, RIT and Tampa.

Le Moyne Head Coach Dan Sheehan has made a strong connection with Section Five and there are twelve alumni on the current roster. Joining Matt next season are four more Section Five players; Jake Bucci (Fairport), Jake Santini (Fairport), Mike DeWind (Fairport) and Connor Haims (Pittsford).

The long stick midfielder is looking forward to his last season with the Blue Devils. "We did loose a huge chuck of our team, but our juniors are going to make a big contribution this year. It's going to be exciting and it's definitely going to be a challenge."

Check out the gallery at BLaxFive.NET.