Brian Martin Signs NLI for Binghamton

November 22, 2011 - Fairport senior midfielder Brian Martin knew right away that he wanted to go to college in New York State and so after some investigation it was not difficult to find his match at Binghamton University. "I knew once I started my recruiting that I wanted to stay in New York. I don't like traveling too far. I looked at some D-1 and D-3 schools and then Coach Nelson called one day. I took a visit, loved it and about a week later committed."

Binghamton Head Coach Scott Nelson is well known in Section Five after a very successful tenure at Nazareth College where he won three NCAA national titles. He moved on to Brown University, Marist and is now in his first year at Binghamton. Brian enjoyed his official visit with Coach Nelson. "I like his philosophy. He's more of a 'if you're not having fun, you're not doing it right' kind of guy, so I look forward to playing for him."

Brian spent time on his visit with JT Hauck (Webster Thomas) and Tucker Nelson (Penfield) and has already begun making friendships. Section Five has a sent more than a dozen players to play for the Bearcats since 2004 and Brian will be joined by his good friend, Chris Bechle (Fairport) along with TJ DiSanto from Victor and Eric Fischer from Irondequoit in the class of 2016 next fall.
His goal to play at the D-1 level started in eighth grade, after he was promoted to the Junior Varsity. Although he saw limited playing time the next year as a freshman on Varsity, in his junior year he scored twenty-eight goals and added nine assists for the high scoring Red Raider offense. Fairport produced an average of almost eleven goals per game and eight different players had double digit offensive stats on last year's team.

He credits Fairport Coach Eric Carlsen with helping him get to his current level of success. "He taught me to play 'blue collar lacrosse'. . . Not as much dancing around, but going straight to the net. He really taught me everything I know today." Because he took a year concentrating on playing defensive middie, he feels he has a complete picture of midfield play. "One of the biggest things I have going for me is that I took a year of just playing defensive middie, so my defensive side of the game is strong."

He is looking forward to his senior lacrosse experience. "I really want an unselfish team that has one goal in mind and that is winning Sectionals." After that, it's off to Binghamton.