By Mark Mausner -- STAFF WRITER Hofstra Pride men’s lacrosse goalie Jack Concannon has one of the highest save percentages in the country and has led his team to a hot start this season. His elite play has surprised many, especially considering he only started two games his freshman year.
For Concannon, however, a successful career in lacrosse has always been in the cards.
“Everybody in my family that was older than me played lacrosse. My brother was a middie so he threw me in that,” Concannon said.
While he was introduced to the game through the eyes of a midfielder, soon he would find the position he was meant to fill.
“Eventually my brother needed somebody to shoot on, so he threw equipment on me, threw me in the cage and that’s where it all began,” Concannon said. That moment, when he took his first step into goal, his new domain, was the start of a journey to Division I lacrosse. From there on, he was on his way to becoming the person he is today, both in-goal and out.
“[Lacrosse] goes into creating your work ethic and the type of person you are. Everything in lacrosse you have to earn. I think that translate[s] a lot off the field as well,” Concannon said.
Off the field, the Hofstra management major is an outdoorsman. He enjoys snowboarding, fishing and going to the beach.
Once Concannon got to St. Anthony’s High School in South Huntington, New York, his opposition changed.
No longer was it constant competition with his older brother, but now he faced the best talent Long Island’s high schools had to offer.
The change was an opportunity to improve for Concannon, who was named St. Anthony’s most valuable player in 2014. His superb play in net was also recognized in his senior season, when he was named goalie of the year by the Catholic High School Athletic Association.
“I graduated from St. Anthony’s. I played with a lot of kids that I go against now in college,” Concannon said.
“I think St. Anthony’s prepared me very well, or the best it could for the college game and the college speed. I have to give a lot of the credit to my high school coaches and teammates who really sculpted me as a player.”
Not everything in Concannon’s high school career went in his favor.
“The biggest loss to me was in my senior year in the Catholic High School Championship against Chaminade. They were always our biggest rival. It was always a rollercoaster against them. Senior year, we fell to them in the championship, so that one stuck out to me,” Concannon said.
Despite his immense success in high school, many still wonder how Concannon made such a big leap from his first season at Hofstra to now.
“Coming in as a freshman, it’s a big adjustment. The speed of the college game is something you can’t really understand unless you go through it,” he said.
“I went in there, got in some games before I got the starts and it really took the full year to get my feet wet and to get used to it. Once you do that, you can just go back to playing the game and go back to the basics.”
Now that he’s adjusted to the speed of Division I lacrosse, the fundamentals Concannon learned all those years ago playing with his brother are the same ones that have him playing at an elite level in college.
It could even be those same fundamentals that lead the Pride’s goalie to a professional career in lacrosse.
“You never know, if the opportunity comes along to be able to play lacrosse after I graduate, that would be an amazing opportunity, so we’ll see,” he said.
If Concannon were to be offered such a chance after college, he just might take it; and if fans are surprised at his success early on, he won’t be.