Union College will have three Division III All-American players who received their bachelor’s degrees this spring take graduate years elsewhere. Faceoff specialist Matthew Paolatto will attend Rutgers, goalie Dan Donahue will attend Providence, and midfielder Zach Davis will attend Vermont. Siena College graduates Brian Mack (defenseman) and Jack Erb (short-stick defensive midfielder) will take graduate years at Rutgers and Georgetown, respectively, while a couple of local high school graduates who are still undergraduates decided to transfer closer to home.
Niskayuna’s Greyson Vorgang goes from Denver to Rutgers as an attackman and Burnt HIlls-Ballston Lake’s Rocco Mareno, a faceoff specialist, moves from Towson to UAlbany. WELL PREPARED The Union trio planned this transition well in advance. Each of them put their name into the portal after their junior year with the intent of it being for their graduate year.
Paolatto had some inside information about Rutgers from former teammate Clint Gorgeau, a defenseman who was taking his graduate year with the Scarlet Knights. When he visited, he liked what he saw from the players, particularly. “The guys were down to earth and not too full of themselves, which you see at some places,” Paolatto said.
With the success he had at Union, Paolatto said he wanted one of the top leagues in Division I to challenge himself. “I think the top tier of guys in D3 — and we played a terrific schedule at Union, so I faced off against a lot of them — can compete in D1,” Paolatto said. “You saw how [former Tufts All-American] Mason Kohn did at Syracuse this year, so I think they can compete with the guys up there, but the difference is you’ll get it more consistently, game-in, game-out.
” Donahue heard from Providence coaches in December and has been accepted into the school’s MBA program. “The game is very similar from a goalie standpoint,” Donahue said. “The top tier of Division III, you’re facing a good number of shots that would be similar to Division I, but I’m very fortunate to have this opportunity that coach [Derek] Witheford, coach [Marcel] Godino and even coach Tye Kurtz this year set me up for.
“I’m really excited to see how I do there. Nothing’s been promised, but I’ll have a chance to compete for time. .
.. Being from Boston, it’ll be good to be closer to home so that my family can come to more games,” Donahue added.
Davis had his sights set on Vermont for a while. An environmental studies major at Union, he couldn’t ignore UVM’s reputation in that field for his graduate work. Also, his former high school coach is an assistant coach there, and he has a friend who took a grad year there as well.
“I think there’s definitely nerves, but excitement as well,” Davis said. “It’s a step up in the next division, but I want to test my abilities. When I went to visit, the offensive coordinator said I fit the role of offensive facilitator, the guy who starts the play.
At Union, I worked hard to become a do-it-all middie. At the next level, it’s a little more specialized, and they need to fill that initiator role, dodge, get the play started, which I love doing, so I’m looking forward to it.” FEELING THE CRUNCH The advantage that the Union players had was an extra year to gauge the schools that reached out earlier.
That was a luxury Mack and Erb, who entered the portal during their senior seasons, didn’t have. And they found out how quickly things move. “Honestly, it kind of happened super-quick,” Erb said.
“After the season, I didn’t really know what I wanted to do. Transfer? Get a job? Our season ended on a Thursday to Sacred Heart. By Monday, [other] coaches were expecting me to know which direction I was heading in.
” “You’re talking to coaches a few days after your season ends, and then a few days after that you’re making visits,” Mack said. Erb said he had applied to high-quality graduate schools for a master’s in finance, including Cambridge University in England. “For the portal, it’s more like schools are asking how can we get you on the team? As a graduate student, you’re only there for a year, so it’s about trying to fit pieces in the puzzle.
And some coaches don’t know what they need just yet,” Erb said. That said, both Georgetown and Rutgers knew they wanted Erb’s and Mack’s experience. “At Georgetown, they graduated all four short-stick defensive midfielders they had, so I think they’re trying to bring in guys like me who have a high lacrosse ID and will give them a veteran presence.
I’ve played a lot of career games,” Erb said. “Starting for three years at Siena will give me an edge that guys just coming in or fighting for time won’t have,” Mack said. “They do have one veteran returning, but there are two other close defense spots open.
It’s definitely a huge step up, but there’s an opportunity to play.” CHANGE OF SCENERY Vorgang, a highly recruited player coming out of Niskayuna, suffered a lot of bad luck all in one year as he went through his freshman year at Denver. He had partially torn his labrum during his senior year, but played through it.
“Two weeks before leaving for Denver, I went to dunk a basketball and it popped out again,” Vorgang said, “so I had a partially torn labrum and a fractured glenoid bone. “I got those repaired in late September, and that took until mid-March. Did all my rehab, and then within four practices, I broke my second metatarsal and was out the rest of the season.
” Vorgang said his situation was a combination of bad luck and bad timing. “Itr never really felt like home to me, but that’s probably because I wasn’t doing the thing I went there to do. I wasn’t fully connected to my teammates.
That and being far from home, I needed a scenery switch,” he said. As with all the players, nothing is guaranteed for Vorgang, but there is an opening for the taking. “They told me their need is a lefty attackman,” Vorgang said.
“They believe I should be a starter, but I obviously have to prove it.” While Mareno wasn’t Towson’s main faceoff person, he got some playing time, but wondered if he could get more elsewhere. “For me, at the end of the year I was looking for a different opportunity,” Mareno said.
“I had a great time the last two years at Towson, but I wanted a new start with a better opportunity to have more playing time.” Playing in his home area code is also a nice bonus for Mareno, who will join high school teammates Kevin Carney and Caeden LaPietro on the Great Danes. [Towson] was kind of far away, so when I cut down my list, I made sure none of the top schools were more than a certain distance from my home,” Mareno said.
“It’s a dream come true to be able to play in the purple in front of a home crowd.” Attackman Koleton Marquis, from the Kahnawake Mohawk Territory, is also transferring to UAlbany, from Johns Hopkins, as a junior..
