Stevenson men’s lacrosse junior Jack Scaliti recently chatted with PressBox about how Mustangs head coach Paul Cantabene has helped him develop as a winning player, his favorite memory at Stevenson and more. The 6-foot, 175-pound midfielder scored 21 goals, dished out 19 assists and picked up 20 ground balls in 2023. Scaliti is a native of Skippack, Pa., and graduate of Perkiomen Valley High School.
PressBox: How did you become interested in lacrosse?
Jack Scaliti: It’s actually kind of a funny story. My neighbor, who used to live across the street — they actually moved to Washington State — but he had this set of plastic lacrosse sticks. I remember we always used to play with them, and I really enjoyed just having a catch. I stole one of them from his house and I put it in my garage and I kept it for myself with a tennis ball, so that was kind of how I fell in love with lacrosse was just having a catch with a plastic stick. That’s really where it all started.
PB: Who were the biggest influences on your game growing up?
JS: That’s a hard one. I really like watching Jules Heningburg. I think he plays the game really well and his fundamentals are really [good]. I looked up to my coaches, whether that was in high school, youth or now college. Even [Stevenson head coach Paul Cantabene], he’ll give me tips. … If he sees me doing something not right or how he can fix it, he always helps me out. I’ve always admired his work ethic. He really pushes himself, and it’s kind of hard to see from the outside looking in, but now that I’m in the program, there’s a reason he’s considered one of the best faceoff guys ever.
PB: What’s one way that Cantabene has helped mold your game since you’ve been at Stevenson?
JS: Not even lacrosse skill-wise, but more how to become a leader and a winner, maybe putting some certain stats like goals, points and assists to the side and accepting what your role is and how to win. … It’s not easy to win. You have to do stuff when you don’t feel like doing it. You have to sacrifice a lot to win. Unfortunately, I have never won a championship with him, so clearly I’m not sacrificing enough or stuff like that. He’s won at all the levels. He’s won a national championship, so he knows. I think that was the biggest thing, honestly.
PB: Why did you choose to go to Stevenson?
JS: You can’t not appreciate the athletic facilities they have for a Division III school. If you look around the country, it’s easily top five. The weight room, the stadium, the locker room is a big one. We actually have two 85-inch flat screen TVs in there with Xboxes and I’d say two dozen gaming chairs for everyone, so that’s a big thing for us. You can’t not look at all the gear that we get and tell me you wouldn’t want to go play somewhere like that where you have a chance at winning plus all the extracurriculars. It’s like two or two and a half hours away from home for me, so it’s really not a bad drive and that was kind of what I was looking for. I didn’t want to be too close to home or too far, so two and a half was a good number for me. Academics, I was kind of questioning what I wanted to do coming into college, so I just chose business and they have that, so it kind of all worked out for me.
PB: What’s your favorite memory at Stevenson so far?
JS: I’d have to say beating Dickinson my sophomore year, so last year we beat them in overtime, [15-14]. We always give them a tough battle. They’re always ranked ahead of us, but that doesn’t really matter when you’re on the field. We always give them a tough battle. We were up the entire game [by] four, five goals. They ended up [going] up one with [1:28] left. I scored the game-tying goal with 22 seconds left and then Cam Leydig scored the game-winner in overtime. That was pretty cool to beat a top-10 team in the country. That was actually the first night of the [Mustang] Classic, so that was pretty cool to see, too.
PB: What’s your favorite thing about Owings Mills?
JS: It really has everything to offer. You go down Reisterstown Road, there’s every fast food place you can think of, every shop you can think of. You go 15 minutes north, kind of on the other side of Owings Mills Blvd., I’ve heard multiple Ravens players live there. It’s a really nice area, kind of a country vibe, farmland. And then it’s a 20-minute drive to Towson and the Towson mall and 25 minutes from Baltimore. It’s really convenient having everything right there.
PB: Who’s your best friend on the team and what’s a story that underscores you friendship?
JS: I’d probably say Grant Zick. We’ve lived together since our freshman year. We lived together last year in a townhouse, and now we live together in an actual house with three other guys. I would say living with him all three years, we’ve gotten really close but we also have been on the same line — first line, second line — so getting to actually play together I think has brought our chemistry and our camaraderie together. We bond really well.
PB: Who was a player you looked up to when you first got to Stevenson?
JS: Cam Leydig, no ifs, ands or buts. He really works his tail off and it showed on the field, in the weight room, all that good stuff. He was always shooting, doing footwork, running, lifting and watching film. It sounds really simple to say, but the work that you do does end up translating over to the field and he worked really hard. He wasn’t the biggest partier or anything, so he was always getting his stuff done. But another thing is he was a really smart student, so I think that [shows] how much of a hard worker he was, not only getting it done on the field but holding himself to that same standard in the classroom.
PB: What advice do you have for younger players in the recruiting process, particularly those who are looking at Division III options?
JS: Just keep working. Don’t get discouraged if you’re not getting the looks that you want from Division I schools, especially down in Baltimore. It’s a pretty hard place to play. Just do the work — lifting, running, shooting, all that stuff. It adds up over time, so that would be my advice.
PB: What are your goals for after lacrosse?
JS: Get a job, something in business. Maybe find a coaching job or something to stay involved with the game. Other than that, I really don’t have it figured out.
Photo Credit: Sabina Moran/SKM Photography