That wasn’t always the case with
Fletcher, who is the classic example of the hidden gem and late bloomer. Growing up in Syracuse, Fletcher excelled in basketball and soccer. He was introduced to lacrosse at age six at Shove Park, which remains a haven for lacrosse players of all ages and levels. His father, Chris Fletcher, spent his formative years playing in that same park, before becoming a close defenseman at West Genesee. Joe still returns there to work lacrosse camps in the summer.
“Joe never liked attention. He just wanted to be one of the guys on the team,” Chris Fletcher said. “But somewhere along the line, he became very competitive in sports and his schoolwork.”
Joe said a turning point came in seventh grade, when he got cut after trying out for middle school basketball. Besides the embarrassment he felt, his parents gave him a dose of reality to consider.
“I was sobbing after I got cut. I wanted them to feel sorry for me, and they did the opposite,” Fletcher said. “They said I hadn’t worked enough at it, and they were right. I hadn’t shot a ball for three weeks. It was probably one of the best things they ever did for me.”
By the time Fletcher reached his freshman year at West Genesee, he had become maniacally devoted to lacrosse, spending hours playing wall ball or pickup. It was no accident the
PRO TEAM: Lizards COLLEGE: Villanova ‘11 HIGH SCHOOL: Jamesville-Dewitt (N.Y.)
25 BRIAN KARALUNAS
HEIGHT/WEIGHT: 5-11, 180 AGE: 24 TWITTER: @BKaralunas DAY JOB: Head2Head Lacrosse Camps, Maverik Lacrosse
“Pre-game, I listen to mostly classical music with one choice hip- hop song mixed in right before the opening faceoffs,” Karalunas said.
29 LEE ZINK
PRO TEAM: Outlaws COLLEGE: Maryland ‘04 HIGH SCHOOL: Darien (Conn.) HEIGHT/WEIGHT: 6-3, 195 AGE: 32 TWITTER: @lzn29 DAY JOB: Landman, Baytex Energy USA Ltd.
“I’m the only sibling that doesn’t have an NCAA championship,” Zink said. “My older brother, Eric, has three with Middlebury in hockey and my twin brother, Alex, has two with Syracuse in lacrosse.”
50 LACROSSE MAGAZINE June 2014>>
next year when he was one of only two sophomores to make the varsity team that won the 2008 state championship. Fletcher was a mainstay on defense for his last two years, gifted at scooping ground balls, causing turnovers and harassing shooters by crowding their hands. By the time Loyola began recruiting him as a senior — then-Greyhounds assistants Dan Chemotti and Steve Vaikness are West Genesee alumni — Fletcher had been recruited by Cornell, Penn and Drexel.
At 170 pounds and not in the best shape, Fletcher was not the most eye- catching specimen when he arrived at Loyola. He spent most of his fi rst fall focused on conditioning. But his stick work was so slick, Fletcher wound up on the man-down unit as the fourth defenseman.
“Joe did not have the best look — lanky, quiet,
Fletcher’s fundamentally sound roots showed during U.S. tryouts. He’s the lone 2014 collegian still in the Team USA mix.
high helmet, not a lot of swagger. But he was sneaky,” former Greyhounds long- stick midfi elder Scott Ratliff said. “He’d push a ground ball around somebody and clear it himself or knock down a pass or D-up a veteran attackman. Two or three weeks into the fall, I remember saying this kid could be something special.”
By 2012, Fletcher was producing daily highlights in practice and had seized the role as the Greyhounds’ shutdown man, a role he punctuated by erasing Denver’s Eric Law, Notre Dame’s Conor Doyle and Maryland’s Owen Blye in the fi nal three games of Loyola’s historic NCAA championship season. And trust Greyhounds senior attackman Justin Ward when he verifi es that Fletcher remains his worst nightmare to contend with on the fi eld. “Joe always fi nds a way to disrupt you. There are no wild checks. He just tries to make you take the worst shot you can take,” Ward said. “He’s got the greatest work ethic of any guy I’ve ever been around. Unfortunately, I’m the guy who goes up against him every day in practice. It’s beyond frustrating.” LM
A Publication of US Lacrosse
“JOE DID NOT HAVE THE BEST LOOK — LANKY, QUIET, HIGH HELMET, NOT A LOT OF SWAGGER. BUT HE WAS
SNEAKY.” — Scott Ratliff, Fletcher’s former Loyola teammate
©JOHN STROHSACKER
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76