Loyola men’s lacrosse senior Luke Staudt recently chatted with PressBox about developing as a goalie, learning from head coach Charley Toomey and more. The 6-foot-1, 195-pound goalie posted a .554 save percentage and 11.14 goals-against average in 2023. Staudt is a native of Camillus, N.Y., and graduate of West Genesee High School.
PressBox: How did you become interested in lacrosse?
Luke Staudt: I was in third grade and one of my buddy’s dads was starting an indoor league team during the winter. They needed a goalie. I was a good first baseman and a pretty solid athlete, so he asked my dad if I’d be interested. Without even him asking me, he just signed me up for it. I wasn’t in love with it at first, especially as a goalie because you’re just kind of getting pelted. But eventually, [by] playing with some of your best friends growing up, you just build some of those bonds that you’ll never forget. I ended up being OK at it as I got older and older. I always thought I was going to be a basketball player. I was really good at it, but then I realized there’s not a lot of [Division I, 6-foot-1] small forwards. I thought lacrosse might be a good one to target and use as a way to get to school. I would say it started there, definitely. The culture of being in Syracuse and how big of a role lacrosse plays up there, that definitely helped a lot, too.
PB: Why did you stick with goalie?
LS: My dad’s thinking for it was, “Hey, you have to run a lot in basketball. You don’t have to run a lot as a goalie.” I was always a bigger kid as a young kid. I was taller, so I took up a lot more of the goal. At first, I kind of hated it because I didn’t know how to play it and I was just getting hit all the time. One of my friend’s dads was a goalie in college and he started to work with me a little bit and actually teach me the position, so to speak. Then I kind of thought, “Oh, OK, this isn’t too bad. Once I actually learn how to play it, you can have some fun doing this.” I think that the main attribute was just the challenge, how hard of a position it was and how sometimes you’re kind of out there on an island. You either sink or swim, and the competitive part of me kind of liked that.
PB: Who were the biggest influences on your game growing up?
LS: There are a lot, definitely. I would say the No. 1 is definitely John Galloway. Growing up, he went to my high school. He went to Syracuse. I wore his number in high school. My high school goalie coach coached him. I was only 50 or 60 saves away from breaking his all-time saves record at my school, but obviously our senior year got thrown away due to COVID. I would definitely say him just from a fundamentals standpoint, leadership standpoint, the clearing game. He was a big one. There are some other ones as a lacrosse junkie I’ve always loved. Scott Bacigalupo was an old one, a guy from [St. Paul’s] that I like throwing on film for, [as well as] Tillman Johnson. Those were probably a couple others just because I always love watching them play. Those would be the big three.
PB: Why did you choose to go to Loyola?
LS: If you had told freshman high school me I’d be at Loyola I probably would have told you [that] you were crazy. I definitely didn’t expect it or see it coming, but throughout the recruiting process, I was fortunate to meet with a lot of different coaches and see a lot of different programs. [Loyola head coach Charley Toomey] stood out. I would just say his ability to relate to me as a goalie, since he played the position, was really cool. And I wanted to do something a little bit different. Loyola has always been a top program. At the time I committed, I think we were a top-five team. That’s something that we’re definitely looking to hopefully get back toward I think this year, that standard that was set not too long ago.
PB: What’s it like developing as a goalie under Toomey?
LS: It’s hard, but I think I’ll always be a better person for it and obviously a better goalie. It’s not for the [faint] of heart, but he definitely has I think a bunch of different expectations than 99 percent of coaches would. He holds you to a higher standard, but that’s because he knows what we’re capable of. I would say that it’s helped me just as much off the field as I would say on the field — that competitive nature that he brings to practice and sucks out of you, so to speak, and just the intensity and the urgency that he has you play the position with on a day-to-day basis. It makes you a different player, if that makes sense. … For example, one coach told me, “Listen, just save everything outside of 12 yards and you’re doing your job.” Whereas here, maybe you should’ve had a couple of these, but even bigger than that, it’s the leadership aspect. It’s the communication. It’s being a leader on and off the field. I can tell you a lot of coaches don’t expect that out of their goalies. With him, it’s almost a requirement.
PB: You had 19 saves in a 12-7 win against Maryland to open the 2023 season. How did that performance come about for you and your team?
LS: Being at Ridley is always an advantage for us. I think you saw that. I think everyone saw that the next week, too, against Hopkins. You get 6,000 people out there screaming, that kind of gets your blood going a little more. You have all offseason to prepare for a game like that and you have the coaching staff we do and some of the veterans we had, I think we knew we were capable of putting up a performance like that. Obviously last season as a whole was pretty up and down, but I think that game really epitomized what we could be when we were flying and making plays. The respect that we have for that Maryland program, I think that played a big part in our preparation, too, because they were the standard at the time and they still are to an extent.
PB: What’s your favorite memory at Loyola so far?
LS: Beating Maryland’s a tough one to beat, but I would probably say beating Boston last year. That was a big one. We went up there a couple weeks before and we kind of got smoked. I got benched in the first quarter. We had a couple injuries and it just didn’t feel right. Boston had been a program that’s had our number a little bit going into our second-round game against them in the Patriot League tournament. It was just a completely flipped script. I had 20 saves and ended up making the game-winner, but more importantly we rallied from being down [9-3] and came back and upset the No. 1 seed at the time. To do that and beat a program that we hadn’t beaten since I’ve been here, that was definitely pretty cool. For me personally to do well against a team that had knocked me off my path earlier in the year, I think that was really special.
PB: What’s your favorite thing about Baltimore?
LS: You’re asking someone from Syracuse. I’d probably say the weather, believe it or not. I would say just as much as the weather, probably the lacrosse culture down here. It’s really similar to where I grew up and came from except maybe at even a bigger level because it’s just a bigger city. I love the culture of the sport, from the high schools to the colleges to even the pro level now. It’s really, really cool and it makes you appreciate the sport a little more than if you were somewhere else.
PB: Who’s your best friend on the team and what’s a story that underscores your friendship?
LS: I would say a big one would just have to be Davis Lindsey because he was my first roommate getting here. I think he’s got to be the answer just because my freshman year we had COVID [restrictions] and we couldn’t go anywhere. We got split into suite-style dorms … but he was my direct roommate. You get to know people pretty well when you’re locked in with each other for basically a semester — some of the collective mistakes and lessons that we both learned together but also some of the things we accomplished, even as freshman. Not big deals in either respect, but they helped us get to where we are today. I think that made our whole freshman class, our whole 2020 class, really tight because of that whole COVID mess.
PB: Who was a player you looked up to when you first got to Loyola?
LS: Obviously Sam Shafer was a big one. He was the starter when I got here. But also, I’ve got to mention the guys like Matt Higgins and Pete Swindell. COVID came back around later our freshman year in the spring and we basically got kicked out of our dorms. Those two fifth-years [told] me and a couple of my roommates, “You can move in with us for a week or two.” They let us stay there and they drove us around. That was so impactful on me because it showed me not how professionals do it but how grown men did their business and showed me how to be a student-athlete. I think they could’ve played in a professional lacrosse league if they wanted to, and now they’re both doing really well working in the corporate world. I think a lot of my habits today probably come from those two. And I’ve also got to say Freeman Whitaker, even last year. Since my freshman year, he would be my biggest one. He was my backup [after] Sam left, but his work ethic on the field, off the field — any time I was losing it, he was always kind of my side of logic, so to speak.
PB: What advice do you have for younger players, particularly goalies, who are going through the recruiting process?
LS: Imagine what life would be like at the school without the sport. I think that’s a good indicator of what your life would be [like] on campus. Enjoy the process, because it only comes around once. Some kids I think stress out about it and overthink it and in return they end up making a decision that maybe they didn’t want. The third thing [is a] degree. Professional lacrosse, it’s great that there’s a league, but very rarely are guys making a living off of that, so keep in mind what your end goal is and that’s to get the best degree possible.
PB: What are your goals for after lacrosse?
LS: To be honest with you, I grew up coaching. I still coach in the summers. I coach goalies. I coach teams. It’s always been my dream to be a Division I coach. West Genesee, my high school, has put out a lot of them. Loyola’s put out a lot of them. … If not, I’ve got no issue spending some time in the corporate world for a couple years. I think my heart will always be out on the field.
Photo Credit: Larry French
Issue 285: February/March 2024
Originally published Feb. 21, 2024