MAKING HIS MARK

Will Mark reigned at Long Island. Now he wants to prove his talents as Syracuse’s goalie

By Anthony Alandt senior staff writer

Eric Wolf’s then-girlfriend, Kelly, was volunteering for Long Island University’s men’s lacrosse team when a freshman walked up to her in spring, 2020. He was in a new place, entering practice with a brand new team.

Wolf, the third-year coach of the Sharks, watched his girlfriend look up and hand a post-practice meal to the freshman. She hadn’t met the new goaltender. “Hey, who are you?” she asked.

“I’m the king. You don’t know who I am?,” he responded.

She looked perplexed. Then, he cracked a smirk and laughed. “No, I’m just kidding,” he said. “I’m Will Mark.”

Mark had every reason to believe he was the king of Long Island. Even on a team that had jumped from Division II to Division I lacrosse, Mark was primed to be the guy. He helped LIU — who started 1-6 in a COVID19-shortened 2020 campaign — win seven consecutive games as he blossomed into one of the conference’s best goaltenders on a team full of D-2 talent

Then, Mark committed to Syracuse for his graduate year.

As a goaltender who began his lacrosse lessons in Germany before growing up in Danville, California, Mark had few opportunities. Mark has always considered himself an “underdog.”

“He was really just stoic and kind of (had a) quiet confidence in a way,” former Long Island defensive coordinator Jack Runkel said.

On Oct. 2, 2018, Wolf learned Long Island would be merging its Post and Brooklyn campuses and moving to the Division-I level starting in fall 2019. Wolf was nervous. He and his staff had recruited Division-II players; goaltenders like Mark weren’t even going to cross their desk as recruits. He liked his goalie room, but they didn’t have “that dude.”

Wolf’s message was simple: “Everybody stop what you’re doing and find the goalie.” He’d heard of Mark’s name through watching clips, but hadn’t placed Mark on his radar because he was far outside of LIU’s talent pool. But, then-assistant Brendan Schroeder, whose friend coached at Vermont, came to Wolf with Mark’s name.

Mark was finishing up his career at Proctor Academy (Calif.) where he became an AllLeague product as a senior. He’d committed to Vermont as a sophomore, but as its recruiting class grew, the possibility of Mark making an immediate impact dwindled.

“That’s when I had the option to stay committed and see what happened or explore elsewhere,” Mark said. “I was getting a lot more money from LIU and a position to start right away.”

At the first training session with Runkel and Mark, Runkel varied his shot selection, throwing in wrinkles to the practice as a way to know Mark as a goalie. He noticed Mark’s ability to stretch out and span across almost the entire net. Runkel was impressed with Mark’s skill to gather control out of errant shots. Long Island had found its “final piece of the puzzle.”

Mark came in with every intention to

“shake the room.” But, no one would have guessed that he would lead the nation in his first season with 15.29 saves per game.

“I just feel like I’ve always been an underdog. In youth lacrosse, I was never the first pick, I was never the A-team goalie,” Mark said.

From first to fourth grade, Mark’s father, Chris, worked in Germany. At the school he attended, one of his friend’s fathers started a small camp to teach three or four kids, includ ing Mark, the lacrosse fundamentals. Twice a week, the kids would toss around a lacrosse ball and learn various skills.

Prior to the start of fifth grade, Mark’s family moved to Danville. Mark joined a local team as well as the school team. Though it wasn’t necessarily a hotbed at the time, the area soon produced players that committed to Princeton, Georgetown and North Carolina.

The pair of goalies on his C-club team stopped showing up to practice. Mark had seen the speed at which lacrosse balls came flying in and noticed the various bruises that appeared on them after each practice. His dad warned him about the position, but Mark saw an opportunity. “I’ll do it,” he said at practice.

So, Mark became a highly-touted goalie prospect out of high school. A starting goalie, Wolf said, should act and feel like a starting quarterback. He was the starting position and the blockade between a defense in tran sition and goals.

Although Mark earned NEC Defensive Player of Year honors in back to back sea sons, his save percentage never crossed 57.7% because of a lack of proper defenders to help out. Mark saved the most shots in the country, but allowed 12.18 goals per game during his three seasons with the Sharks.

Matt Gill, a volunteer assistant coach, worked with Mark on becoming a mentally strong goal tender.

Now, after allowing a goal, Mark relies on one of two breathing techniques. He’ll tap his helmet twice with his stick to settle himself.

“It takes a toll mentally, and it’s just one of those things that it’s really hard to ask of a freshman goalie,” Runkel said.

The other technique is used before a game’s start and as it is restarting out of half time. Mark takes a long breath in through his nose until his lungs are almost full. Then, he’ll quickly inhale in and hold his breath for a few seconds. He’ll center himself in the moment. Then, just before the whistle sounds, he draws out a long exhale to slow down his heart rate.

He knows of the questions surrounding whether his play can translate to the Atlantic Coast Conference. He’s used to the doubt and the outside noise permeating through each decision. Why goalie? Why Long Island? Why Syracuse?

Mark knows there’s nothing guaran teed at SU, not even a starting position. What’s guaranteed is the chance to return a former giant to its glory and to build up another program again and attach his name to its rise.

“It was simple,” Mark said. “It’s one of the greatest lacrosse programs in the history of the sport, just being here when they have a little chip on their shoulder and something to prove is exactly the type of person I am.” anthonyalandt29@yahoo.com

@anthonyalandt