A West Chester native has been key to Delaware’s surprising NCAA men’s lacrosse run
Drew Lenkaitis, a junior who transferred from Vermont after the COVID-canceled 2020 season, became a starter for the Blue Hens in late March.
In what could be the biggest upset of the season, Delaware took down No. 2 Georgetown last Sunday in the first round of the NCAA men’s lacrosse tournament. And at the center of Delaware’s attacking squadron is West Chester native Drew Lenkaitis.
With two goals and five points, Lenkaitis was crucial in the Blue Hens’ (13-5) 10-9 win over the Hoyas (15-2). It was his pass to teammate JP Ward that sealed Delaware’s victory with eight seconds remaining in the game.
Delaware will now turn its attention to this weekend, when it faces No. 7 Cornell (12-4) in the quarterfinals. The Blue Hens will take the field at noon Sunday in Columbus, Ohio.
“We know it begins and ends with our effort, with our preparation and our focus, and, ultimately, with our execution on game day,” Delaware coach Ben DeLuca said.
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Lenkaitis originally committed to Vermont for his freshman year, although he did not see any game action because of the canceled 2020 season. He then transferred closer to home to Delaware ahead of his sophomore year, where he racked up three points in seven games.
Through the first six games of the 2022 season, Lenkaitis had notched just three goals and an assist. He became a starter in late March in Delaware’s game at Villanova.
“We have a very tight-knit group of teammates in lock-step pursuit of greatness, and it really begins with competitiveness in practice,” DeLuca said. “And so the guys that show it consistently in practice are the guys that play for us on game day. And he knows that.”
As part of the starting six, Lenkaitis got his footing around the cage, scoring five goals and nine points in the final six games of the regular season.
These games were crucial for the Blue Hens. Snapping a three-game losing streak, they catapulted themselves from 0-2 in the Colonial Athletic Association to regular season champions. The CAA was balanced this season, with half the teams ending with a 3-2 conference record and the other half 2-3. By beating Drexel and Towson in the CAA tournament, the Blue Hens punched their ticket to NCAA Tournament.
It was in the NCAA Tournament that Lenkaitis blossomed into a top playmaker. In the play-in round against Robert Morris, he put up a career-high-tying four points en route to a 20-8 victory. A week later, he set another career high in points with two goals and three assists against Georgetown.
“He’s done a really good job, especially in big moments where the ball has been in his stick, of creating, scoring some goals, assisting on others,” DeLuca said. “He scored a big one in the late stages of the game against Georgetown and then assisted on the game-winner and just speaks to his poise and his confidence and the way that he’s been playing recently.”