MM_072017

44 | July 20, 2017 | The Mokena Messenger sports
mokenamessenger.com
A different kind of state representative
Mokena lacrosse
player represents
Illinois in national
competition
Kyle LaHucik, Editorial Intern
Mokena resident Nick
Cornfield was “shocked”
when he was selected to play
at this year’s Warrior National
Prospect Invite, a twoday
lacrosse showcase that
NCAA coaches attend.
But it’s not a shock for
others.
Cornfield is currently being
scouted by 15 colleges,
his dad said. Cornfield, a
rising junior at St. Rita, will
be one of 10 athletes (five
boys, five girls) to represent
Illinois at the national
tournament held Monday
and Tuesday, July 17-18, in
Richmond, Virginia.
To get to the national
stage, Cornfield has committed
himself to the sport since
he was a fifth-grader. At the
time, after being cut from a
baseball team, he decided
not to play sports for a little
while.
“I didn’t really want to
play anything after that because
I remember that,”
Cornfield said. “And then my
mom talked me into playing
lacrosse. I thought ‘Why not
just give it a shot?’”
Since then, Cornfield has
set his athletic sights on lacrosse,
with an academic eye
for political science, which
he hopes to study in college.
“So, I tried out for this club
team, called True Lacrosse.
I made the team there, and
then I kind of just built my
way up from there,” Cornfield
said. “I just worked at
it every day, I just got myself
better.”
Though the 5-foot 8-inch,
140-pound athlete works
hard and takes the sport seriously,
Cornfield said it’s
Mokena native and St. Rita student Nick Cornfield gets ready for action for his high school squad earlier this year.
Cornfield represented Illinois as one of 10 players from the state chosen to participate in the Warrior National Prospect
Invite Monday and Tuesday, July 17-18, in Richmond, Virginia. Photos Submitted
Cornfield works on his game during a match with his club team, NXT.
also fun, and the “love of the
game” is what keeps him going.
“It’s one of the best hobbies
I ever did,” Cornfield
said. “It’s just so entertaining,
and you could never get
sick of it. There’s never like
a point where you just get
sick of lacrosse.”
While at Mokena Junior
High School, Cornfield was
approached by the St. Rita
head coach Jim Jucinski.
“I went over [to St. Rita]
for the shadow visit, and I
instantly fell in love with the
school, because I felt like it
was a second home to me
there,” Cornfield said. “They
all treated you good and everything.”
Cornfield was approached
by Jucinski because of what
the coach saw in him.
“Nick possessed great
fundamentals and a high lacrosse
IQ for someone of his
age,” Jucinski said.
That high IQ helped earn
Cornfield a spot on the varsity
team his freshman year.
For his next and last two
years of high school, Cornfield
hopes St. Rita can win
a state championship, and
he will continue “trying to
do the best I could on the
field.”
Jucinski looks forward to
improvement in Cornfield,
too. The coach said he wanted
to see his young athlete
“be more of a team leader
both through on-field leadership
and vocally.”
The St. Rita coach isn’t
the only person who coaches
Cornfield. His uncle, who
Cornfield said is in a few lacrosse
hall of fames, is a role
model for him.
Cornfield goes to upstate
New York every summer to
train with his uncle and to
play indoor lacrosse, which
“helps get your stick skills
better, which increases
game.”
Before he played at the National
Prospect Invite, which
had a rigorous selection process
by college coaches who
looked at videos of the athletes
who applied, Cornfield
will play at the Philly Summer
Invitational for his club
team, NXT Lacrosse.
At the National Prospect
Invite, Cornfield said
he hopes to speak with
the Benedictine and Naval
Academy coaches. He has
the potential to be scouted by
coaches from many NCAA
Division I and Division II
colleges and will attempt to
put his best foot forward as
a long stick midfielder, the
only player on a lacrosse
team who is allowed to play
the full field.
Come fall, he might commit
to one of the colleges.
Cornfield’s dad said he
would like to commit by November
so they can be done
with the recruiting process.
And while his future
athletic plans remain fluid,
Cornfield plans to join the
student government at St.
Rita this upcoming school
year, which will possibly
give him a better idea of
whether or not he wants to
stick with political science
wherever he continues
his athletic and academic
careers.
For now, and at least the
next six years, there is no
doubt Cornfield will stick to
lacrosse.