Same teammate, same city, new challenge: Drexel lacrosse stars to team up again with Wings

Drexel lacrosse players Sean Quinn and Jack Farrell have spent the last four years as teammates, and thanks to the Wings, their run together will continue as professionals — and they won’t have to go far.

Seniors Quinn (70th pick overall) and Farrell (84th) were selected by the Wings in the National Lacrosse League entry draft on Aug. 28.

“Sean and I are very good friends. We’ve been through a lot of ups and downs so far in our college career,” Farrell said. “I think that going in with one familiar face there, we can give each other good feedback which we already do at Drexel.”

The defenders will be returning for their final season of eligibility at Drexel before staying in the area and joining the Wings. They were granted another season because of the pandemic.

“Being right down in the city is going to be nothing new to me, which is great,” said Farrell, a Pennsylvania native and second team all-Colonial Athletic Association pick last season. “It means a lot that I was able to stay and keep my lacrosse career in Pennsylvania. I’m gonna bring that West Philly toughness we always talk about.”

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A three-sport athlete (lacrosse, basketball and football) in high school, Farrell was an all-Central League linebacker at Haverford High and committed to West Chester University for football before deciding on Drexel.

“I did not see myself playing in the NLL,” Farrell said. “When I got the text from [Wings] coach Paul Day, I was a little shocked, but I’m very excited for the opportunity.”

Quinn, a first team All-CAA pick last season, also never saw the NLL as an option.

“I always had a goal of doing it, but I just never knew how real that goal was,” Quinn said. “It was an opportunity I wanted to go after but never really knew what the chances of doing it were.”

They will have to adjust to playing indoor box lacrosse with the Wings. Box lacrosse is played within a smaller arena with fewer players and is a much faster, more physical style of play than field lacrosse.

Quinn, who started playing in kindergarten on a team coached by his father Sean Quinn, a former Loyola player, has experience in box lacrosse from high school at Seton Hall Prep. He also played in the Philadelphia Box Lacrosse Association this summer.

Quinn and Farrell said they are prepared for the transition.

“That physicality is something that I bring to the game that I’m sure they have seen,” Farrell said. “Hopefully it can translate to indoor and to the next level.”

Quinn credits the Drexel lacrosse program with making him better equipped to play with the Wings.

“[Assistant] coach Tucker Durkin has helped me a lot with footwork and just using angles better, which will translate well to box defense,” Quinn said. “And since it’s such a smaller area of play, it gets much more physical, which is intriguing to me.”

Having a familiar face as a teammate should also make for a smoother transition to the Wings.

“It’s going to be really nice to have someone push me all this year and over next summer,” Quinn said. “Hopefully that’ll help us both.”

But before that next journey begins, the seniors have one more chapter in their collegiate careers. Drexel is the defending CAA champ, and Farrell and Quinn hope to take in the memories and follow up with another notable season.

“Winning the CAA and making a run at the NCAA Tournament again,” Quinn said, “that’ll be a successful season for us.”