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By Karen Sharpe
Among the guys who have been around, he’s “The Holy Cross Kid”—an oddity, the first of his kind to crack the ranks of the big time to play professional lacrosse.
For Shaun McGowan ’03, a midfielder for the Long Island Lizards, he’s living a dream, playing with the athletes he admired as an up-and-coming high school lacrosse player in Long Island’s Garden City.
“It is such an honor to be on the same field as a lot of my childhood idols in the sport and to test my abilities against them,” McGowan says
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The Lizards are one of 10 teams that make up Major League Lacrosse (MLL), the newest professional organization to ride lacrosse’s increasing popularity as the fastest-growing sport in the country. Still, it is light years away from making headline sports news or commanding astronomical ticket prices.
And, so, for most professional players in the MLL and the 20-year-old National Lacrosse League, playing the game comes second to real-life pursuits. For McGowan, as this year’s season opened in the beginning of May, he was plowing through finals for his last year of law school at St. John’s University in Queens, N.Y. And, this summer, even though the Lizards will be shooting for a berth in the MLL Championship in August, McGowan will be focused on studying for the New York State Bar Exam.
“Typically, the league only has one practice and one game a week,” he says. “I can’t think of a better outlet from studying than that.”
McGowan, who first played lacrosse in the third grade, later went on to play for top-rated Chaminade High School—but his most memorable game moment came during his final year at Holy Cross when the Crusaders scored their first Patriot League win against Lafayette.
“We had such a close-knit team, it meant a lot to all of us to accomplish our goal of a Patriot League victory,” McGowan says.
That lacrosse was a minor, struggling sport at the College when McGowan arrived in 1999 was more appealing than burdensome.
“Holy Cross’ combination of great academics, smaller classes and the opportunity to play and make an immediate impact on an improving team was by far the best choice for me,” he says.
McGowan only sees great things for the future. Head Coach Adam Pascal has what it takes to keep Holy Cross lacrosse competitive, he says, calling him “one of the hardest workers and most knowledgeable guys in the sport.”
McGowan likewise has high hopes for the MLL. “I think the sky’s the limit for the pro league if it is marketed correctly,” he says, “and I’m honored to be the first Holy Cross alum to be a part of it.”
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