The Bellarmine Knights have been one of the stories of the season in the NCAA, and leading them all year long has been goaltender Dillon Ward. We talked to the top goalie prospect in lacrosse, and he said he has loved this season with the Knights.
“Season has been great so far. The guys are really excited about our success so far and were striving for our season goal of making the ECAC tournament. For me, I’m really happy with the success of the team, it’s tough losing the games we’ve had, especially when they are a combined 5 goals. I’m very excited at the chance to get to the ECAC tournament and take it one game at a time from there. Lastly, I owe a ton of my success to the defense in front of me, I cannot ask for anything more from them. They have just been a rock for me all year and are giving up the shots that make my job as easy as possible. They are an amazing group and like I said, they are the key to my success ”
Ward is the best goaltender prospect in the upcoming NLL draft, and while he still has a goal with the Knights, he is thinking of the draft and how he needs to perform in Kitchener.
“Yeah I’m definitely excited to see what happens with the NLL draft. My focus right now is obviously here at Bellarmine, but I am excited to play this summer with Kitchener and hopefully we have a successful season heading into the draft. It’s obviously been a dream of mine to play professionally since I was young, hopefully I can land somewhere in the draft and go from there.
“I’m also excited for a lot of guys who I’ve played with growing up to see where they end up.” he said of the draft, coming this September.
Lastly, Ward feels he has gotten better as the team has. “My game has evolved with the success of the team.” says Ward. “The success we’ve had this year is just growing everyone on the team’s confidence. I just try and keep calm and cool in the cage, be a leader with the defense, makes the saves I need to and hope to steal a couple here and there.”
