It all started with a single Canadian lacrosse player: a young man who crossed the great divide to attend a SPIRE Academy lacrosse camp, this before there was even a SPIRE lacrosse team. The person running that camp was James Harkey, who’s now the Director and Head Coach of SPIRE Lacrosse. Here’s how Harkey remembers it: “Before we had an actual team on campus, I did my first camp. There weren’t many participants, maybe six or so. And it was only a few days, just a long weekend. One of the young men that came to that camp was Liam Luzza. He was a hard worker, a talented player and just very easy to be around. We hit it off immediately and both had a lot of fun over those few days.”

From there, of course, it was Harkey’s every intention to have Liam attend SPIRE and be on the roster for the school’s inaugural season of lacrosse. Liam and his family weren’t quite ready to make that leap (he decided to finish out his senior year in Toronto) but one of his friends, Zack Wright, was, and Zack transferred into SPIRE in January 2024 for part of his senior year. From there, two more of Liam’s friends—Rowan Edwards and Caelan Brady—also transferred into SPIRE to play lacrosse. Liam finally made it down, too. 

“All of these student athletes have known each other since fifth or sixth grade,” says Harkey, “playing lacrosse together in the Toronto suburbs, so they’re a naturally tightknit bunch, socially and athletically. I can’t tell you how much I’ve enjoyed having them here. They bring so much to the field with their skills. They play a slightly different game in Canada, and I think it’s a significant part of the contribution they’ve made to this team.” 

That “slightly different game” is called box lacrosse. What’s played here in the States is field lacrosse. First of all, box lacrosse is played on a hard surface—concrete, rubber or wood. Second, the field of play is considerably smaller; the proportions are closer to a hockey rink than those of an American field lacrosse pitch. Third, there are fewer players on a side in box lacrosse. Finally, box lacrosse goalies are closer in look and performance to hockey goalies. Are you beginning to see a pattern here? Harkey certainly does.

“I’m pretty sure these guys played hockey as well as lacrosse growing up,” he laughs. “You can feel it in the style of play. They all have tremendous coordination and excellent ball skills. They tend to be physically hard-nosed players, too: the contact rules of box lacrosse being a bit looser and more aggressive, let’s just say. But it all translates well.”  

This is borne out by the statistics. While an American student athlete, Anthony Bardonille, led scoring for the season, Liam, Zack and Rowan were the second, third and fourth best scorers, respectively. But it’s not just Canadian lacrosse skills these northern-born student athletes bring to SPIRE; they also bring Canadian culture. Harkey: “As one example, they reference Tim Hortons instead of Dunkin’ Donuts. They also tend to be pranksters. I ascribe that to hockey culture. Sometimes it makes me want to tear my hair out, but it’s a good vibe. It adds to the camaraderie. One way or another, our Canadian student athletes bring a lot to SPIRE Lacrosse. I hope to recruit more in the coming years.”