Stephen Burke spent most of last season sidelined with an injury.
So the Yorktown senior had to make up for lost time over the summer in order to land a spot with a collegiate program.
Burke managed to do just that. He has given a verbal commitment to join Division II national champion C.W. Post.
Here’s a Q&A with Stephen on his decision:
What schools did you visit and what were your final list of schools down to?
This past season I was injured and missed the majority of it. So, this summer I attended Top 205 in Maryland, Peak 200 at Springfield and the Moonlight Section 1 All-Star Showcase at John Jay. I also played for the Hudson Valley New York State Shootout team and the Yorktown Ballers.
Playing in all of these I had to stand out to make up for the missed season. I got many letters from different schools and narrowed my list down to C.W. Post, Salisbury, Western New England College and Eastern Connecticut State University. I visited all four of these during the summer.
What were the main factors in your decision to attend C.W. Post?
C.W. Post had everything that I wanted academically and I loved the campus when I visited. Also (head) coach John Jez and (assistant) coach Frank Vitolo are known as great coaches and great people. I could definitely see myself playing for them throughout college. Also they won the national championship this past year.
Do you know Mahopac’s Okie Bernabo, who has also committed to C.W. Post?
Yes. I know Okie and he is a great player. I played with him while I was younger at camps along with playing with him on the Hudson Valley U-13 team.
How do you see yourself contributing to the program?
I feel that my strong stick skills and knowledge of the game will strongly benefit the defensive unit at C.W. Post.
How would you describe your style of play for someone who has never seen you play?
I have very strong stick skills, I play aggressively and play smart team defense. I also love to bring the ball up the field.
As always, be sure to e-mail me with news/info on any college commitments as they are made to joe@laxlessons.com.
For breaking recruiting news, check the “Comments” portion of this thread for frequent updates
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Dear Joe – Let’s talk AAs for next year. besides Mikey Daniello, Jameson Pickel and Forrest Walter, who will the other 6 guys be from Section One???
Reigns –
John Jay should certainly get at least two AAs maybe even three. Since Mike Daniello is likely to commit to Syracuse, North Carolina or Hopkins and is among the top rated juniors in the nation, he probably heads the list from John Jay. Jameson Pickel is probably next up since. Pickel, a defenseman who is, now a senior, committed to Hopkins as a junior.
Speaking of Hopkins, Yorktown’s Kevin Interlicchio, was an AA last season and is probably the leading favorite to earn AA next season.
Cornell-bound middie Cole McCormack of Rye, Army-bound attackman Greg Petre of Somers, Fairfield-bound midfielder Shanw Honovich and St. John’s-bound attackman Ryan Fitzgerald of Put Valley are all guys who have very strong shots right now. They should all put up big numbers and all play on sectional contending teams.
Those are some names that come to mind now. Let’s hear some more from you folks.
Here’s my list:
Daniello – JJ
Pickel – JJ
Brandofino – Mahopac
Interlicchio – Yorktown
Mccormick – Rye
Petre – Somers
Pfiffner – Somers
Honovich – L/P
Ftizgerald – PV
Mostly offensive players on this list but there are lots of other worthy candidates of course. I think JJ and Somers should have 2 each at least.
Somers should definitely get more than one AA maybe even as many as three, like John Jay.
I think Petre leads the way without question. After that it gets interesting. For instance, the Tuskers have two outstanding defensemen in Eddie Schurr and John Bello. Schurr is going to Hopkins, but is just a junior. It’s not often that a team gets more than one defenseman named AA, so that should be interesting to watch. A lot will depend who draws the top defensive assignments in big games, etc.
Let’s hear more names and more of your thoughts on the topic.
Congratulations, Stephen !! Best of luck this season at Yorktown, and good luck at C.W. Post !!
Goalies? Besides McGuigan at ‘pac who else is looked good over the summer?
And congrats to Stephen, not easy to do when you are comming back from injury.
Now that burke commited he will probaboly have a huge role on his team covering the top attackmen in the section, such as daniello and petre. Depending on how he does, do you think he will have a run at AA joe?
throw in o’callaghan and barton on the AA discussion, o’callaghan had a great season for rye and will most likely be the focal point of their offense this year, and i hear barton is getting big time d-1 looks, with his size he cud really put up some numbers
joe if you could help me out, i heard pickel is no longer a hopkins recruit, could you shed any light on this?
Joe,
If you have any influence please try and delay the selection until after the play-offs:
Daniello JJ
Pickel JJ
Brandofino Mahopac
Interlicchio Yorktown
McCormack Rye
Petre Somers
Right on the edge (not in order):
Shurrr-somers
Pfiffner-somers
Dienna-somers
Honovich L/P
Ftizgerald PV
The 4’11” (OK maybe 5 ft) LSD –LP (Fazio?)
long shot juniors: Walter (J), O’Callaghan (Rye)
You heard wrong, help me out. Jameson is all set with Hopkins.
slacrosse – I agree that ideally the AAs would be selected after the playoffs. Obviously it’s neither my call nor my place to dictate when the coaches decide to do it. But if you want my opinion, I do share yours.
Great job throwing Andrew Fazio’s name out there. His hard work and determination make him worthy of being mentioned.
Joe,
Thanks. Gee I thought you could “move mountains”.
In my opinion, with his ability and drive, if Fazio had normal size for a LSD , he’d be a COMPLETE NO BRAINER for AA in my book. That kid did a super job on Ranagan in the play-off taking the ball away and yeah, getting knocked on his butt a couple of times but he just got up and kept the high intensity.
For those who don’t know about Fazio, check out this story I did on him early this past season:
http://www.maxpreps.com/news/ul_KqC1CEd6pcwAcxJTdpg/new-york–fazio-sparks-lakeland-panas-lacrosse-team.htm
Thanks for bringing up the article Joe.
Joe,
If you remember Fazio also had an outstanding game when LP beat Jay. His D was integral to LP’s win.
Yeah definitely. That may have been the most entertaining game of the regular season in Section 1, too.
Joe
Y town does not have two AAs this year. KI and who? My list is:
Interlicchio
Daniello
Mc Cormack
Brandofino
Honovich
Petre
Fitzgerald
Pickel and two more but these are the top players in 2010
Sorry one more
I kno it may not seem like Town will have 2 AAs but trust me they always seem to find a way to get more than one. I mean last year 4 was ridiciulous.
I don’t think anyone else from Yorktown can crack the list but they still have one of the best players in the nation in Interlicchio.
Interlicchio – Yorktown, Hopkins
Daniello (jr) – JJ, Any school he wants
Brandofino – Mahopac, CW Post
Fitzgerald – PV, St. Johns
McCormick – Rye, Cornell
Honovich – L/P, Fairfield
Petre – Somers, Army
Schurr (jr) – Somers, Hopkins
Pickel – JJ, Hopkins
Here’s my final list, awesome group of players here including 3 (possibly 4) Hopkins bound recruits.
Lax I believe Brando is going to NYIT not Post
Oh right my bad. I was doing that from the top of my head I messed up.
John Jez, the CW Post head coach, is looking into the vacant HC position at NY Tech. Wonder how this will affect the commitments to Post I’ve read about here the last few weeks
http://www.newsday.com/sports/college/new-coach-on-the-block-for-nyit-1.1482706
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