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Not On His Watch
May 01, 2009 | Men's Lacrosse
The counter at the bottom of the Microsoft Word document is moving slowly. Finally it makes it past the 100 mark, the 200 mark.
His teammates have sat in the same chair many times before, and the counter has raced past those numbers. Some have reached 1,000 words by their end of their first answer.
And now here it is, about 30 minutes after he first chuckled and mumbled something about watching “A Few Good Men” on TV again, and Brendan Reilly's word count stands only at 827.
“He's quiet,” says Princeton men's lacrosse coach Bill Tierney, who managed 131 words about his senior tri-captain in two minutes before having to run to a meeting. “He's quiet, but he's very intense. He's one of the most competitive kids we've ever had.”
Eight-hundred and twenty-seven words. Many of them were fascinating.
“I grew up in privilege,” Reilly says. “I've had a very good life. I thought it was appropriate for me to serve in some way.”
And so, while most of his teammates were serving internships in advance of corporate or medical careers, Reilly was embarking on a different career path. He spent six weeks of two of his college summers at Marine Corps Officer Candidate School in Quantico, Va., training for what will be his entry-level position.
“I will be offered a commission as a Second Lieutenant after graduation,” Reilly says. “And I will accept it.”
Reilly's path to Quantico began innocently enough, with an email from a recruiter.
“I didn't have a summer job,” he says. “I didn't want some non-paying internship that I wasn't inspired by. I decided to try OCS. There was no commitment involved. You could go one summer for 10 weeks or two summers for six weeks each. I chose the two summers.”
His OCS training included being up before 5 a.m, a great deal of physical conditioning, classroom work, leadership training and tactical operations. The candidates would go for three straight weeks before getting one day off each of the last three weeks.
“I didn't have the right mindset the first time,” says Reilly, who went after his freshman year and then again last summer. “At the time, I wasn't sure what I was looking for. As college went on, I considered other options. I did some internships. I studied abroad. I began to realize a few things. I began to realize that I could find something fulfilling in the Marine Corps that I couldn't find elsewhere. When I went back the second time, I loved it. I knew exactly why I was there.”
Reilly, who isn't obligated to accept his commission, will be using his service to the Marines as part of the Woodrow Wilson School's “Scholar In The Nation's Service” program. Reilly, a politics major, applied to the program as a junior and was one of six students accepted. The designation requires two years of government service, followed by graduate study at the Woodrow Wilson School.
In Reilly's case, his Marine Corps duty will count as his service, and he will return to the WWS after he completes his four-year commitment. Of course, these are somewhat dangerous times, something that is not lost on Reilly.
“You can't help but think about it,” he says. “You can't entertain a career in the Corps without the thought that you're going to be in a combat zone at some point. I'll be involved in the infantry, so that's definitely true of the types of situations that I might get into. I'd like the opportunity to deploy. The stakes are high, but that's what you train for. In sports terms, that's what you practice for.”
With his mindset, it's not surprising that he is a shortstick defensive midfielder, sort of an infantryman on the lacrosse field. Shortstick D middies are often targeted by offenses to try to free up great shooters or exploit switches on attackmen. The average “shorty” will rarely score goals and will often find himself one-on-one with someone who does.
“He has the perfect mentality for that role,” Tierney says. “It's the hardest job on the field in many ways, and he relishes the role. He's never backed down from anything in his life. His role fits the man.”
The Reilly family lives in McLean, Va., near where Brendan's father Dennis was last stationed in the Navy shortly after Brendan was born. It is truly a lacrosse family, as his older sister Cailyn played at Colgate (with Tierney's daughter Brianne), his younger brother Connor is a Princeton teammate and his youngest brother Brian plays in high school.
Brendan was one of 13 Division I players in his high school class at Landon, including his current teammate Mark Kovler, one of the highest scoring midfielders in Princeton history. Many of the great shortstick D middies who have preceded Reilly at Princeton were great scorers in high school who came to college expecting to play offense who were subsequently moved to defense. Reilly played the same position at Landon that he does at Princeton.
“Landon has always been known for great offensive midfielders,” Tierney says. “The coach there kept telling us about him. He kept saying we had to take him. He was such a great student, and he finally won us over. He hasn't disappointed us from Day 1.”
Reilly played in eight games as a freshman, backing up Grant Hewit and Zack Goldberg. When Hewit graduated after the 2006 season, Reilly stepped into his spot. He and Goldberg were the No. 1 shortsticks until Goldberg graduated a year ago.
This year, Reilly has worked with Josh Lesko, a converted offensive midfielder, to form as good a pair as Tierney has had as Tiger head coach. Reilly was a preseason honorable mention All-America by Inside Lacrosse, no easy feat for his position, and he has been having a great senior season.
He did roll his ankle in the first quarter against Harvard and was expected to miss several weeks, but he came back the following game against Cornell and has been playing his usual minutes despite the injury.
As is the case with his position, it's hard to quantify his importance to the team and its defense, which ranks eighth in Division I this season. He has scored three career goals, all in big spots, with one against Johns Hopkins in the 2008 Face-Off Classic and two against Syracuse, including one this year at Giants Stadium.
“It's a constant challenge,” he says of the position. “Playing D mid, you'll never go through a whole game without being tested. You will always have a chance to make a play.”
Princeton's 2008 season ended on a down note, when a win over Cornell was followed by losses to Dartmouth and Brown to deny the Tigers the Ivy League championship and a spot in the NCAA tournament.
The 2009 season began really early, actually just a few weeks after the 2008 one ended, when Princeton went on its trip to Spain and Ireland to begin to regroup.
With the positive experience from the trip and the losses to Dartmouth and Brown put behind them, Princeton was re-energized for 2009. A deep senior class of eight players (nine at the time, but Tim Novick has been lost to injury), all of whom are key contributors, has blended with a younger group to drive Princeton back into the Top 5 nationally.
“It's something that's been motivating us from Day 1,” Reilly says. “We constantly remind ourselves that we failed last year.”
For his part, Reilly was elected as a tri-captain along with Chris Peyser and Greg Seaman.
“It's a tremendous honor to be a captain,” Reilly says. “This program has such a rich history with a lot of great captains before. And with our class, I feel like we're all captains in some way. All our seniors are leaders.”
Princeton finds itself back in a somewhat similar position as to a year ago, as it plays Brown in the regular-season finale with a share of the Ivy title on the line. Unlike last year, both teams are considered to be in very good shape for NCAA tournament bids.
“It's been a great year for us so far,” Reilly says. “We're really looking forward to the tournament. There a lot of good teams out there. Nothing will be easy.”
Reilly has been an Academic All-Ivy League selection and has also played sprint football, a varsity sport for players 174 pounds or fewer.
“I'm grateful to Coach Tierney for letting me have a chance to continue to play football,” he says. “It was different team with a different culture. It was a lot of fun. I got to maybe one or two practices here or there. I couldn't play in all the games. I did all of my fall lacrosse commitments. That was first. ”
His next commitment will be more intense.
“The military is an extension of who Brendan is,” Tierney says. “It's the next logical step for him. He's a natural leader. He's going to be leading a lot more important things than just a men's lacrosse team one day.”
In actions. Not words. Well, maybe some words. Maybe 827 of them, just enough to show that if the Marines are looking for a few good men, they've found at least one.
- By Jerry Price
His teammates have sat in the same chair many times before, and the counter has raced past those numbers. Some have reached 1,000 words by their end of their first answer.
And now here it is, about 30 minutes after he first chuckled and mumbled something about watching “A Few Good Men” on TV again, and Brendan Reilly's word count stands only at 827.
“He's quiet,” says Princeton men's lacrosse coach Bill Tierney, who managed 131 words about his senior tri-captain in two minutes before having to run to a meeting. “He's quiet, but he's very intense. He's one of the most competitive kids we've ever had.”
Eight-hundred and twenty-seven words. Many of them were fascinating.
“I grew up in privilege,” Reilly says. “I've had a very good life. I thought it was appropriate for me to serve in some way.”
And so, while most of his teammates were serving internships in advance of corporate or medical careers, Reilly was embarking on a different career path. He spent six weeks of two of his college summers at Marine Corps Officer Candidate School in Quantico, Va., training for what will be his entry-level position.
“I will be offered a commission as a Second Lieutenant after graduation,” Reilly says. “And I will accept it.”
Reilly's path to Quantico began innocently enough, with an email from a recruiter.
“I didn't have a summer job,” he says. “I didn't want some non-paying internship that I wasn't inspired by. I decided to try OCS. There was no commitment involved. You could go one summer for 10 weeks or two summers for six weeks each. I chose the two summers.”
His OCS training included being up before 5 a.m, a great deal of physical conditioning, classroom work, leadership training and tactical operations. The candidates would go for three straight weeks before getting one day off each of the last three weeks.
“I didn't have the right mindset the first time,” says Reilly, who went after his freshman year and then again last summer. “At the time, I wasn't sure what I was looking for. As college went on, I considered other options. I did some internships. I studied abroad. I began to realize a few things. I began to realize that I could find something fulfilling in the Marine Corps that I couldn't find elsewhere. When I went back the second time, I loved it. I knew exactly why I was there.”
Reilly, who isn't obligated to accept his commission, will be using his service to the Marines as part of the Woodrow Wilson School's “Scholar In The Nation's Service” program. Reilly, a politics major, applied to the program as a junior and was one of six students accepted. The designation requires two years of government service, followed by graduate study at the Woodrow Wilson School.
In Reilly's case, his Marine Corps duty will count as his service, and he will return to the WWS after he completes his four-year commitment. Of course, these are somewhat dangerous times, something that is not lost on Reilly.
“You can't help but think about it,” he says. “You can't entertain a career in the Corps without the thought that you're going to be in a combat zone at some point. I'll be involved in the infantry, so that's definitely true of the types of situations that I might get into. I'd like the opportunity to deploy. The stakes are high, but that's what you train for. In sports terms, that's what you practice for.”
With his mindset, it's not surprising that he is a shortstick defensive midfielder, sort of an infantryman on the lacrosse field. Shortstick D middies are often targeted by offenses to try to free up great shooters or exploit switches on attackmen. The average “shorty” will rarely score goals and will often find himself one-on-one with someone who does.
“He has the perfect mentality for that role,” Tierney says. “It's the hardest job on the field in many ways, and he relishes the role. He's never backed down from anything in his life. His role fits the man.”
The Reilly family lives in McLean, Va., near where Brendan's father Dennis was last stationed in the Navy shortly after Brendan was born. It is truly a lacrosse family, as his older sister Cailyn played at Colgate (with Tierney's daughter Brianne), his younger brother Connor is a Princeton teammate and his youngest brother Brian plays in high school.
Brendan was one of 13 Division I players in his high school class at Landon, including his current teammate Mark Kovler, one of the highest scoring midfielders in Princeton history. Many of the great shortstick D middies who have preceded Reilly at Princeton were great scorers in high school who came to college expecting to play offense who were subsequently moved to defense. Reilly played the same position at Landon that he does at Princeton.
“Landon has always been known for great offensive midfielders,” Tierney says. “The coach there kept telling us about him. He kept saying we had to take him. He was such a great student, and he finally won us over. He hasn't disappointed us from Day 1.”
Reilly played in eight games as a freshman, backing up Grant Hewit and Zack Goldberg. When Hewit graduated after the 2006 season, Reilly stepped into his spot. He and Goldberg were the No. 1 shortsticks until Goldberg graduated a year ago.
This year, Reilly has worked with Josh Lesko, a converted offensive midfielder, to form as good a pair as Tierney has had as Tiger head coach. Reilly was a preseason honorable mention All-America by Inside Lacrosse, no easy feat for his position, and he has been having a great senior season.
He did roll his ankle in the first quarter against Harvard and was expected to miss several weeks, but he came back the following game against Cornell and has been playing his usual minutes despite the injury.
As is the case with his position, it's hard to quantify his importance to the team and its defense, which ranks eighth in Division I this season. He has scored three career goals, all in big spots, with one against Johns Hopkins in the 2008 Face-Off Classic and two against Syracuse, including one this year at Giants Stadium.
“It's a constant challenge,” he says of the position. “Playing D mid, you'll never go through a whole game without being tested. You will always have a chance to make a play.”
Princeton's 2008 season ended on a down note, when a win over Cornell was followed by losses to Dartmouth and Brown to deny the Tigers the Ivy League championship and a spot in the NCAA tournament.
The 2009 season began really early, actually just a few weeks after the 2008 one ended, when Princeton went on its trip to Spain and Ireland to begin to regroup.
With the positive experience from the trip and the losses to Dartmouth and Brown put behind them, Princeton was re-energized for 2009. A deep senior class of eight players (nine at the time, but Tim Novick has been lost to injury), all of whom are key contributors, has blended with a younger group to drive Princeton back into the Top 5 nationally.
“It's something that's been motivating us from Day 1,” Reilly says. “We constantly remind ourselves that we failed last year.”
For his part, Reilly was elected as a tri-captain along with Chris Peyser and Greg Seaman.
“It's a tremendous honor to be a captain,” Reilly says. “This program has such a rich history with a lot of great captains before. And with our class, I feel like we're all captains in some way. All our seniors are leaders.”
Princeton finds itself back in a somewhat similar position as to a year ago, as it plays Brown in the regular-season finale with a share of the Ivy title on the line. Unlike last year, both teams are considered to be in very good shape for NCAA tournament bids.
“It's been a great year for us so far,” Reilly says. “We're really looking forward to the tournament. There a lot of good teams out there. Nothing will be easy.”
Reilly has been an Academic All-Ivy League selection and has also played sprint football, a varsity sport for players 174 pounds or fewer.
“I'm grateful to Coach Tierney for letting me have a chance to continue to play football,” he says. “It was different team with a different culture. It was a lot of fun. I got to maybe one or two practices here or there. I couldn't play in all the games. I did all of my fall lacrosse commitments. That was first. ”
His next commitment will be more intense.
“The military is an extension of who Brendan is,” Tierney says. “It's the next logical step for him. He's a natural leader. He's going to be leading a lot more important things than just a men's lacrosse team one day.”
In actions. Not words. Well, maybe some words. Maybe 827 of them, just enough to show that if the Marines are looking for a few good men, they've found at least one.
- By Jerry Price
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