Brother Rice Lacrosse (Michigan): D1 College Pipeline Profile

Some very strange and unexpected things happened in 2018.

Saudi Arabia lifted its longstanding ban that had prevented women from driving.

In Denmark, the nation’s pig population surpassed that of humans.

And here in the United States, in Bloomfield Hills, a suburb north of Detroit, the Brother Rice High School lacrosse team failed to win a state championship.

Just how unexpected was that loss?

Enough so that elsewhere on this site, the upset has been dubbed the Miracle on Rice.

That might be overstating it.

Even so, that loss to Novi Detroit Catholic Central marked the first time Brother Rice had failed to win the Division 1 state championship since the sport of lacrosse was sanctioned by the state of Michigan—back in 2005.

With its victory over Hartland in June, 2021, the Warriors have now won 15 MHSAA Division 1 lacrosse titles. When you factor in the period prior to the sport’s sanctioning, when the state tournament was run by the Michigan High School Lacrosse Coaches Association, Rice has won a total of 26 state championships, the first coming in 1986.

But Rice’s most enduring legacy has been in Division 1 college lacrosse.

Brother Rice Lacrosse and Division 1

There are currently 88 players from Michigan on 2022 D1 college lacrosse rosters.

20 of those players are graduates of Brother Rice.

The Warriors are currently represented in 8 of D1’s 11 conferences.

But Rice has the additional distinction of producing not only some of the best lacrosse players from Michigan, but also some of the sport’s all-time best.

Included in that list are players as Jason Alessi, whose scored what proved to be the game-winning goal against Duke to give Yale a national championship in 2018; Sergio Perkovic, who led the Warriors to four straight state championships, and was a two-time All-American at midfield at Notre Dame.

The list goes on: Tom Barnds, one of the founders of the prominent private equity firm Accel-KKR, and also an Honorable Mention All-American at defense at Princeton; Nick Shevillo, who played for Rice at a time when there were only about 12 high school lacrosse teams competing in the entire state of Michigan, and went on to Johns Hopkins, where he started at defense for 3 seasons, and captained the Blue Jays to a Final Four appearance in ’92.

Perhaps the most telling example of the imprint left by the Rice program is provided by Dave Morrow, the first Michigan player to be recruited by Princeton. Morrow was the quintessential Rice product: a three-sport athlete (a football captain, hockey player, and lacrosse All-American defenseman), and also a National Honor Society member. Morrow was a First-Team All-American, who helped catapult Princeton to the first of an eventual 6 national championships.

Known for his relentless and forceful checks, Morrow famously bent, and had to replace over 20 aluminum shafts on his stick—-in a single season.

Morrow also resolved to address his problem with broken shafts. At the urging of his father, who operated a metal and tubing shop, he developed a more durable alternative: a titanium shaft.

That innovation led to a business, which, in a nod to his high school, he named his Warrior Lacrosse. The company would grow to employ over 600 workers internationally. Morrow sold a controlling interest to New Balance in 2004.

The Brother Rice D1 Lacrosse Roster

2022 D1 Players

ACC

Carson Cochran (Notre Dame, GR, LSM, Bloomfield Hills)

AMERICA EAST

Dylan Braddock (Binghamton, JR, M, Oxford)

ASUN

Cole Gellatly (Detroit Mercy, SO, A, Bloomfield Hills)

Joey Schmaltz (Detroit Mercy, FR, D, Birmingham)

Evan DeVito (Detroit Mercy, FR, D, Clarkston)

Nate Randall (Robert Morris, FR, G, Beverly Hills)

Parker Piwinski (Robert Morris, FR, A, Shelby Township)

Bobby Reaume (Robert Morris, FR, M, Beverly Hills)

Jordan Hyde (Utah, SO, A, Bloomfield Hills)

BIG EAST

James Donaldson (Georgetown, JR, D, Franklin)

BIG TEN

Brandon Murphy (Michigan, JR, FO, Bloomfield Hills)

Mike Cosgrove (Michigan, JR, M, Bloomfield Hills)

Dan Reaume (Penn State, RS-SR, M, Beverly Hills)

Jack Crosby (Rutgers, SO, LSM, Birmingham)

IVY

Justin Glod (Harvard, SO, A, Bloomfield Hills)

Franz Raab (Yale, SO, D, Beverly Hills)

MAAC

Lance Williams (Canisius, FR, M, Southfield)

Tommy Kunz (Canisius, FR, G, Birmingham)

Jack Lockwood (Marist, FR, D, Bloomfield Hills)

NEC

Brendan Higgins (Wagner, JR, D, Troy)

Some Past Brother Rice Division 1 Lacrosse Players

Tom Barnds, D, Princeton ’90

Nick Shevillo, D, Johns Hopkins ’92

Dave Morrow, D, Princeton ’93

Matt Mueller, A, Duke ’05

John Halip, M, Loyola ’05

Christian Hain, M, UMass ’10

Charley Henneghan, FO, Penn State ’10

Joey Fontanesi , M, Maryland ’12

Andrew Cote, M, Johns Hopkins ’12

Joe Payne, M, Villanova ’12

Graham Adams, D, Stony Brook ’12

Nick Dolik, A, Penn State ’13

Danny Henneghan, FO, Penn State ’13

Michael Hamilton, M, Hofstra ’13

Bryan Walker, M, Yale ’13

Grant Fisher, M, Georgetown ’14

Bennett Packer, M, Delaware ’16

Henry Nelson, A, Marquette ’16

Sergio Perkovic, M, Notre Dame ’17

J.P. Forrester, A, Richmond ’17

Jason Alessi, M, Yale ’18

Liam Reaume, M, Binghamton ’18

Brian Cosgrove, D, Fairfield ’20

Bo Pickens, M, Detroit Mercy ’20

Luke Cappetto, D, High Point ’20

Jack Kelly, M, Georgetown ’21

Morgan Macko, A, Marquette ’21/Bellarmine

James Scane, M, Robert Morris ’21

 

David Parry is the founder and editor of LaxAcrossAmerica. A New York-based digital marketer and copywriter, he played Division 1 lacrosse as a walk-on at Brown.