Senior lacrosse player Cole Anderson has seen his fair share of fame in the papers for his athletic achievements, but his most recent accomplishment might top the rest. Over the summer, Anderson committed to Ohio’s Cleveland State University to play Division I lacrosse.
Anderson has been playing lacrosse for only four years, beginning the sport his freshman year of high school. Even early on, he knew he wanted to continue playing the sport after high school.
“I knew I always wanted to play lacrosse in college ever since I picked up a lacrosse stick,” Anderson said. “It’s been my dream ever since then. It should be the dream for everyone no matter what sport they’re playing. It’s always a big deal when someone finally does it.”
For Anderson, the hardest part of the recruitment process may have been getting noticed. He played on a popular travel team over the summer called the Cavaliers to get recognition from certain colleges he wanted to attend. Schools such as Christopher Newport, Roanoke, and Cattawba made offers to Anderson, but none of them were Division I like he wanted. Eventually, Cleveland State recognized Anderson’s talented and sought him out.
“They actually reached out to me, I’m not sure how they found me, but they reached out to my coach at Fauquier, and he talked to them and set me up for a phone call with their coach,” Anderson said. “Then they invited me to their prospect camp, so I went and played. Then, a week later, they gave me an offer.”
Cleveland State is big on soccer and basketball, but only recently stepped up to the DI level in lacrosse. Anderson said he hoped to help make a name for Cleveland in the early years of its organization.
“Cleveland is a newer team. They just started out in Division I last year, so they have mostly freshmen on their team,” Anderson said. “They play a lot of big-name schools like Penn State, Ohio St., U.Va. Hopefully they’re getting better through the next couple of years so when I get there I can do my best to help.”
Of course many questions come with such a decision, a big one being: Why Cleveland? Anderson said the city is a good fit for a life after college and lacrosse.
“The city itself is really cool, the campus around the city. The coaching staff really liked me—and I really liked them, so it was a perfect fit,” Anderson said. “I’m going to major in sports management. There are a lot of intern opportunities in Cleveland like interning with the Cleveland Cavaliers or the Cleveland Indians. There are just a lot of opportunities for what I want to do in Cleveland. I also just want to stay around sports too.”
Although Anderson said he cannot tell how his first season with the team will go, he has an idea of how he wants to eventually impact the program.“I want to do as much as I can to help our team,” Anderson said.
“I know freshmen don’t play that much their first year. I’m just gonna try my best—work hard and try my best every day.”