Looking back as a seasoned senior, Hofstra men’s lacrosse player Chase Patterson was unsure of himself as a freshman.
“Coming in, you really don’t know what to expect. You hear a lot of stories but you’re not really sure. Then once my first day came, just getting the feel for college lacrosse, going against older guys from all different ages, and just coming together and bonding, it’s crazy,” Patterson said, shaking his head in disbelief. “The four years went very fast, in the single blink of an eye. Can’t believe that, but we’re here, so [I] gotta make the most of it.”
Now the main man trusted with winning first possession for the Pride, he is adjusting to being in the spotlight, considering the uphill battle he had to fight for this position.
“Coming in as a freshman, we [already] had a starter: Brian Herber; I came in as a number two-three guy [so I] wasn’t really seeing much action,” Patterson said. “And when you’re in that spot, you can either complain about it, or you work as hard as you can whenever you don’t have practice. I chose the route of working as hard as I could to develop the small techniques [and] to build upon my foundation.”
Anyone can reasonably say that Patterson earned his starting role, except for himself, as he deflects credit to his former teammate from whom he learned most of the tricks up his sleeve.
“I learned a lot from [Herber], he really showed me the ropes because we’re the same position,” Patterson said. “Just being a great leader in the weight room [and] how you should attack things that way.”
Having learned so closely from a former upperclassman, he uses his experiences to pay it forward to the next class of men’s lacrosse players.
“So, with our program every year, we’ll have a little brother and we’ll look after them and I’ve had three of them. [I’m] just being a role model for the younger guys on how [they] should do things,” Patterson said. “So, I would at least hope I’ve had a good impact on them and showing them the right way to do things, how to attack the day, not just in lacrosse, but also in academics.”
Being that older, mature and informative presence, as others have before him, is what makes Patterson an impactful player on multiple levels for this team.
“He’s a fabulous big brother on the team. He has taken the faceoff guys as well as other freshman under his wing,” said men’s lacrosse head coach Seth Tierney about Patterson as a leader and teacher of the next class of faceoff guys. “Chase Patterson stinks as a lacrosse player compared to the type of person that he is, and he’s a really good lacrosse player. So, when I say that he stinks, I mean that in an unbelievable way, because he is just special, he is that nice of a person. He just exemplifies what a Hofstra lacrosse person should be.”
But what inspires the people around Patterson the most, is his raw dedication to bettering himself.
“His work ethic has always been off the charts since day one, but his focus has matured. I think his approach to the game has become more cerebral because I think that he now takes film to another level. I think he takes preparation to another level. I think he takes his health and conditioning to another level,” Tierney said. “There was a story that went on [when] we had a department meeting. It was pouring … and [Patterson] was outside by himself, working on faceoffs, in a torrential downpour. And every coach was texting me during the meeting, going ‘Who is that? And how can I get my guys or my girls to do that?’”
For the obvious question: how is Patterson so successful at the faceoff position? Obviously, repeating drills for twenty hours a week helps, but being flexible yet persistent has made him the gift that keeps on giving.
“The key to my success, I would say, is just understanding that you may not win every faceoff. If you lose a couple, just gather yourself and [then] just on to the next face off,” Patterson said. “Faceoff is like a game of rock, paper, scissors. Sometimes your number one move might not be it and then you have to go to the next move, so just having the ability to go to different moves and have different options; I’ll go back onto that and say, ‘Hey this isn’t working, let me throw a changeup’ and if that changeup doesn’t work, throw another thing in and then just keep trying it.”
Patterson channels that balance into other parts of his life too, knowing that he’s not a machine.
“Sometimes, your body [is] tired and your mind might not be there because you have so many different things going on,” he said.
To push through in the times where he’s struggled, Patterson looks to his motivation: his love and dedication to his teammates.
“Feels good [to be the faceoff guy], but it’s really not just me, it’s also the wing guys, so it’s not just me, it’s a team effort,” Patterson said, thinking back to the team’s loss to the University of Michigan Wolverines and how much he blamed his lackluster performance for the negative outcome. “Nothing’s worse than, for me, not doing my job and knowing that if I could have won two more faceoffs that could swing the game completely. So just knowing that if I don’t do my job, it’s such a big thing and letting the other guys down who have worked just as hard, if not harder, and letting them down. I can’t, it drives me crazy.”
“He holds himself to a high standard; he never wants to let his teammates down,” Tierney said about Patterson’s weekly prep that leads up to game day. “It will never be from a lack of preparation, a lack of effort, a lack of due diligence. So, if he fails or lets the team down, he’s the first one to stand up in the locker room and say ‘That one’s on me.’”
At the end of the day, when the game clock expires, Patterson feels like nothing has changed, and that he’s just as hungry as he was the first day he stepped on the turf of James M. Shuart Stadium.
“I still think of myself as a freshman,” Patterson said, chuckling. “I’m not satisfied at all; I know I can do better. I strive to be at 100% but I’m not, so I won’t be satisfied until I get there.”
Photo courtesy of Alexis Friedman
