Feb. 14, 2003
By Miriam Wolff
College Park Gazette
After talking to the Passavia brothers, I am anxious for that first game of the Maryland Lacrosse Team.
Willy and Chris Passavia are two players on the team, who make this sport so terrific.
Willy Passavia, a senior midfielder, uses a shorter stick, which is easier to handle and can be moved faster. Chris Passavia, a junior, plays defense and uses the longer stick, which gives a player more reach and makes it easier to stop an opposing attacker.
As I talked to these two young men, I could feel the close bond that they had for each other.
"I couldn't picture myself playing against him and I wouldn't want to," said Willy Passavia. "It's great to watch him. It inspires me if he's playing well and hopefully, the same thing happens the other way."
Chris Passavia agreed.
"It's a great experience, a level of camaraderie that's inherent in your relationship as a brother, and it transfers to your relationship on the field," he said. "It's a pretty powerful thing."
The Passavias are from Stony Brook, N.Y. They began playing lacrosse in elementary school. At Ward Melville High School, their team, the Patriots, won the 1999 state championship. Both brothers played in this game, and were instrumental in the run to this title. Willy Passavia had the honor of being named Male Athlete of the Year as both a sophomore and senior, an all-county and all-league player as a senior, Suffolk County soccer Player of the Year in 1998 and recipient of the school's Senior Athlete of the Year Award.
Chris Passavia had the honor of being named defensive MVP as a senior, the New York state championship's most outstanding defensive player of the game and all-American as a junior and senior.
Chris Passavia earned school records for most goals and most points by a defenseman in a season and in a career.
He also was on all-state, all-county and all-league teams as a junior and senior, and was his school's Male Athlete of the Year as a junior.
Chris Passavia said the people at Maryland influenced the brothers to attend school here.
"I think Willy really loved the people and that was one of the big reasons for me, knowing how much he appreciated the people here and how much Willy and I have always agreed," he said. "I could assume that judgment was good."
Chris Passavia said there were opportunities at other schools that had tried to recruit Willy.
"I think, overall, he thought that Maryland was really the place where he belonged."
Commenting on this year's team, the brothers were extremely upbeat.
"The team I'm on now is great...probably one of the best teams I've played on since I've been here," said Willy Passavia. "We're loaded with talent, and the team's really been coming together the last few weeks. I'm real happy and excited to see what happens this year."
Chris Passavia agreed.
"We're a very talented team now...the most talented team that I've been part of since I've been at Maryland. We have a lot of very good, offensive players. Defensively, we're returning everybody. So, I think we will have the liberty to do things that other defenses can't, because we have a lot of experience."
Their hobbies and passions are somewhat different. Willy Passavia loves snowboarding and hanging out with friends. His major is communications, and he plans to graduate in May. After that, he plans to travel and see the rest of the world, and then enter the job market.
Chris Passavia's passion is writing, both fiction and poetry. During high school, he performed in a one-act play he had written entitled, "Well, Here I Am." His mom was the choreographer. Majoring in psychology and English, he plans to become a lawyer, but still pursue his hobby of writing.
Their father is a real-estate developer, and their mother is in interior design. Older brother, Lee, played soccer at Yale, and is an artist in New York. Younger sister, Alyssa, plays lacrosse and has been offered some college scholarships. Sounds like a busy, talented family to me!
First regular-season game at 11 a.m. on Feb. 22, when the Terps meet Georgetown. It depends on the weather where the game will be held, either Byrd Stadium or the artificial turf field, which is next to Shipley Field.
Reprinted from the College Park Gazette
