Thomas Cecere didn’t start playing lacrosse until seventh grade, but he never looked back. While football and hockey kept him busy during fall and winter, Cecere devoted his springs and summers to lacrosse and worked hard to secure his future.
In August of 2017, Cecere announced his commitment to play Division 2 college lacrosse at North Greenville University in South Carolina.
Cecere’s athletic career began on the ice when he was just 4 years old. He split his youth hockey career between the Buffalo Regals and Tonawanda Lightning organizations. His favorite memory came with Tonawanda when the Lightning won a state championship under coach Don Pray.
Fast-forward to high school, and Cecere’s varsity hockey coach at Grand Island High School was once again Pray. Cecere was a captain for the Vikings his senior year and was named team co-MVP as he finished with 13 goals and 15 assists in 16 regular season games.
In his senior year of football, Cecere was selected First Team All League and was named the Grand Island offensive player of the year.
But it was all lacrosse from there.
His lacrosse career began in seventh grade, and it was an easy transition from hockey to lacrosse.
“I didn’t want to play baseball anymore,” Cecere explained. “I just wanted to play a sport that was more physical, so I started in seventh grade on the modified team, and since I play hockey, the stick skills just kind of came naturally to me after the first year.”
It didn’t take long for Cecere to fall in love with the physical aspect of the game, and the thrill of scoring goals made it even better.
“I like the physical part about lacrosse,” he said. “I like how it’s gritty. I like slashing people and stuff. It’s fun. I like making moves and scoring goals. It’s the best part about it.”
The summer after seventh grade, Cecere started playing lacrosse for Team Buffalo with coach Ted Lee, who coached the Grand Island varsity team for a while as well. When the varsity team called Cecere up to varsity a few times during his eighth grade season, he realized his potential for a future in lacrosse, and that just motivated him to work even harder.
“I knew I was called up for a reason,” Cecere said. “I wasn’t bad, so once that went through my head, I started taking this more seriously, and every summer I did Team Buffalo and I did extra work with [Lee], and I just did as much as possible to get to the next level.”
The summer after his sophomore year, college lacrosse coaches started to get in touch with Cecere. Cecere was certain of two things: he wanted to play lacrosse and he wanted to go down south. Division 1 schools Manhattan College and St. Bonaventure University were among those that contacted Cecere, but he had his heart set on South Carolina.
North Greenville University was the ideal program for Cecere.
“The summer of my sophomore year, a lot of coaches started getting in contact with me, and they were inviting me to prospect camps or visits,” Cecere said. “I wanted to play in the south so I contacted schools down south. I sent them my highlight tape, and Coach [Corey] Struss from NGU got in contact with me, so I went down and visited, and I just fell in love with it – all the scenery and everything, the mountains surrounding it. Greenville, South Carolina is like 20 minutes away and it’s gorgeous there. And I’m an hour and 20 from Charlotte, so my surroundings are perfect.”
Cecere said before his senior year that he “wanted to go out with a bang,” and did he ever. He broke the Grand Island all-time scoring record this season with 207 career goals (previous record was 200) and was Grand Island’s first All American selection since 2004.
Although Ted Lee stepped down as the Vikings’ head coach before the 2018 season, Cecere acknowledged Lee’s contributions to his career and making him the player he is today.
“He’s pretty much the prime reason why my game is where it is today,” Cecere said. “Without him, I wouldn’t be here – obviously I had to put in the work, but he’s the one who taught me all the techniques and everything to be a good player.”
Cecere knows that college lacrosse will have its difficulties, but he’s looking forward to challenges that he expects will grow him as both a person and an athlete.
“It’s gonna be a challenge,” Cecere said. “It’s gonna be a lot of conditioning, a lot of working out and practicing. I think it’s gonna be a good experience for me and help me grow up more as a person. I just feel like I’ll come out more conditioned and stronger than I went in.”
Photo submitted by Thomas Cecere.
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