Maryland Athletics 2024 Hall of Fame Spotlight: Lee Zink

Receiving little recognition as a lacrosse player growing up in Connecticut wasn’t unfamiliar to Lee Zink. 

His team won a state championship during his senior year at Darien High School, and his twin brother, Alex Zink, received All-American and First Team All-State honors. But Lee was never an All-American or First Team All-State. He was never even First Team All-Conference. Lee never racked up many accolades in high school, but once he attended the University of Maryland, his game took off, and the awards followed.    

Zink, 42, played professional lacrosse for 11 seasons. In August, he was inducted into the Professional Lacrosse Hall of Fame for his accomplishments. However, he’ll soon add another prestigious honor to his resume. On Oct. 18, Zink will be inducted into the Maryland Athletics Hall of Fame. The close defenseman played on some of the top defenses in college history at Maryland alongside other elite defenders such as Chris Passavia and Michael Howley. Even among those players, Zink shined. 

“Absolutely a total surprise,” Zink said regarding his induction, “I’m a little bit shocked by it, to be honest. I was fortunate to be a part of some good teams, but the foundation and the coaching given to me at Maryland allowed me to succeed at that next level.”

The 6-foot-4, 200-pounder played under Hall of Fame head coaches Dick Edell and Dave Cottle from 2001-04. He was a captain of Maryland’s 2004 ACC Championship team and a shutdown defender on the Terps’ 2003 Final Four squad. 

Zink was the 2004 William F. Schmeisser Award recipient, presented to the Division I Defensive Player of the Year. Only one Terp has won the award since. He accomplished this while being a Top 15 nominee for the Tewaaraton Award, an annual award given to the most outstanding college lacrosse player. 

He was also a two-time United States Intercollegiate Lacrosse Association (USILA) All-America and an All-ACC and ACC All-Tournament Team selection. Zink finished his career tied for first in all-time caused turnovers (75) with Passavia.

“Lee Zink was the best player I ever coached in nine years at Maryland,” Zink’s assistant coach from 2001-02, Jon Stainbrook, said. “The thing that separated Lee from a lot of other players, whether they were at Maryland or not, was the level of determination and quiet intensity he played with on the field. Many players at any other school, at any other point in time, would be hard-pressed to match his energy competitively.”

Zink sharpened his lacrosse skills with old-fashioned backyard battles with his twin brother, an offensive player. Alex went on to play college lacrosse at Syracuse. However, Lee had other plans, as he was influenced by a fellow Terp who grew up in the same neighborhood as him — Erik Osberg.  

“Maryland reached out from the beginning, and I didn't really want to go anywhere else,” Zink said. “That was kind of the one option that I was chasing. … Maryland lacrosse was on top. They had multiple Final Fours and a couple of championship appearances. We always saw them on TV.”

Zink credits the coaching he received in College Park as the defining factor in his development as a player. He mentioned defensive coordinator Dave Slafkosky and Stainbrook as significant components. However, his goalie and roommate in 2004, Tim McGinnis, says Zink was the embodiment of Maryland’s blue-color, tough, physical defense that became a staple in the early 2000s. 

“Defense is about playing angles,” McGinnis said. “It's about doing the right things and taking calculated risks. There's nobody who coached that better than Slaf, but there's nobody who personified what Slaf was teaching better than Lee. Lee was the quintessential Maryland defenseman. He's long, he's tall, he's left-handed and he's physical. … Lee was nasty. Lee understood the physicality of being a defenseman.”

Zink elevated Maryland’s defense throughout his career. The team compiled a 47-14 record and won regular-season ACC titles in 2001, 2003 and 2004. The defense held opponents to single-digit goals in 51 games. 

The Terrapins even accomplished the rare feat of shutting out an opponent in 2002, Zink’s sophomore year. Maryland defeated Mount St. Mary's 18-0. It was the program’s first shutout since 1970 and remains the last time the Terps held an opponent scoreless. Furthermore, Maryland's defense led the nation in scoring defense that season, allowing an NCAA-best 7.0 goals per game.

“Lee was able to make the rest of the defense effective because he was such a good off-ball player,” Stainbrook said. “He was cerebral. He was unbelievably instinctive in terms of his understanding of what the opponent's offense was trying to accomplish. He was able to put himself and other people in the right spots, such that you didn't get a lot of off-ball goals when Lee was in there. He would help other guys line up where they should be.” 

He continued. “He would cover up deficiencies when we would have them, or sometimes communication or physical breakdowns. Then, when his guy would get the ball, good luck trying to run by that guy because it's not happening. And every time the ball goes on the ground, something tells me you're going to be reluctant to pick it up because it's going to be painful if you try.”

Zink had a four-game stretch through the ACC and NCAA tournaments in 2003, during which he didn’t allow a single point to his man. The opponents were Georgetown, Notre Dame, Ohio State and UMass. As a team, Maryland surrendered just 21 goals in those four games. 

In the ACC tournament game against Notre Dame, Zink picked up a career-high nine ground balls and forced seven turnovers. His performance on May 3 remains the last time a player caused seven or more turnovers in a game. He had 32 caused turnovers that season, ranking fifth all-time in program history. 

Zink caused 42 turnovers in 2004, the second-most recorded for a single season in program history. Passiva holds the top spot, forcing 51 turnovers that same year. As a team, the Terps ran the gauntlet. Despite the media picking Maryland to finish last in the ACC, it boasted a perfect 5-0 record against conference opponents en route to earning the ACC tournament title. 

“He really led by his play,” Passavia said. “He was never a huge talker. He was not the guy who was always trying to make a big rah-rah speech. But he showed up, played hard and was effective. I think folks just universally respected that.”

The Baltimore Bayhawks selected Zink fifth overall in the Major League Lacrosse (MLL) draft. He played professionally for 11 seasons, including nine with the Denver Outlaws. Zink led the Outlaws to the MLL Championship in 2005 and 2014, winning in 2014.

The defenseman was an eight-time MLL All-Star and five-time All-MLL selection. In 2012 and 2013, he was named MLL Defensive Player of the Year. He’s one of just four players to win the honor in back-to-back seasons. When Zink retired from lacrosse in 2014, he held the Outlaws' record for most games (110) in a Denver uniform. 

“Early on in college, [Lee] was a bit of an unknown quantity,” Passavia said. “But Mike Howley and I knew how good he was and he ultimately got his due. … In the professional ranks, I think he continued to blossom even further as a player and continued to evolve.”

The lacrosse great was also a member of the 2014 U.S. National Team, which took home a silver medal at the Federation of International Lacrosse (FIL) World Championships, and an alternate on the gold-medal winning 2010 U.S. National Team. 

Zink played professionally while working full-time in the oil and gas industry and earning his Master of Resources Law Studies degree from the University of Denver. He’s currently the Director of Land for Franklin Mountain Energy. Zink met his wife, Kiera, three months after moving to Denver. Together, they have a nine-year-old daughter, Jordy, and an eight-year-old son, Nico.

“He is an ambassador for Maryland lacrosse,” McGinnis said. “His professional career speaks volumes about him, but all lacrosse things aside, Lee wouldn't be my best friend if he weren't a phenomenal human being. He's a hard-working guy. He's a great family dude. … Those things matter to me more now than the lacrosse stuff ever did. I would think that matters more to Lee as well. The lacrosse accolades are icing on the cake.”