By: Nicole Dienst

The Staples boys lacrosse team added a new name to their list of college bound athletes: Matthew Garber.

Matt Garber ’18, the team’s saving-grace goalie,  committed to Boston University last Wednesday, December 7th.

Unlike many division 1- bound lacrosse players, Garber committed during his junior year, which is perceived as late for many recruits. The recruiting process has accelerated extremely in the past seven years, with athletes committing to top 50 division 1 schools as early as eighth grade. Some of Garber’s teammates, particularly Evan Zinn ’18 (committed to Johns Hopkins University)  committed before their first spring season of varsity lax.

Despite his late commitment, Garber did not feel pressured to make his decision early on, “My commitment was late because I let my process take a longer amount of time to make sure I felt 100 percent confident in the school I chose,” Garber said.

Garber, who has been playing lacrosse for seven years, explained that committing was the next step in his athletic career, “College lacrosse has always been a dream I had in the back of my head since I first started playing in 4th grade, but I didn’t realize it was a tangible thing until freshman year.”

Garber had a breakout game last year in the boys’ state semi final game against Darien, the #2 best lacrosse team in the country, with 5 key saves in the second half. Garbers saves helped soften the 14-4 deficit, but the Wreckers did not make it to the next round.

Despite losing key starters such as Michael Reale ’16 (University of Richmond lacrosse), Ben Schwaeber ’16 (Colorado College lacrosse), and Connor Chamberlin ’16 (Monmouth University lacrosse), the outlook for this upcoming season remains positive with Garber in net. “I’m really excited for this season and I look forward to seeing what Matt will do in net,” Billy Hutchinson ’17, Colorado College commit and boys lacrosse captain, said.

Garber’s teammates are optimistic about his lacrosse future, and support his decision , “Garber deserves it more than anyone. He’s one of the hardest working goalies, always asking people to shoot on him to get better. BU is a great fit for Matt.” Dobson Cooper ’18 and UVM lacrosse commit said.