SACO — Most young athletes have dreams of one day playing their favorite sport in college, but only about 8 percent of high school players will go on to compete at the next level.
Thornton Academy senior Tom Levasseur will be part of that exclusive club next year as the Golden Trojan has verbally committed to play lacrosse at Division II Georgian Court University.
“It’s awesome. Now I get to enjoy my senior year and it’s pretty cool to be able to say that I’m going to be a Division II athlete. It’s still surreal to me,” said Levasseur on making his college decision. “I always watched college lacrosse every year ever since I was a kid — and every single year I’d tell myself I want to get there someday and now I can finally say that I will.”
Levasseur had several options when it came to his next home, but it didn’t take long for the TA senior to realize Georgian Court was the perfect fit.
“I looked at a lot of schools, a lot of emails back-and-forth with coaches and coach (Bennett) Drake from Georgian Court reached out and immediately gave me an offer … my mother and I ended up going down to New Jersey to visit the school and as soon as I stepped on campus I knew it was the place,” said Levasseur. “I got to meet the team and hang out with them and I got to play that day (as part of a prospect day). The whole experience was phenomenal. The (Georgian Court players) as soon as I walked in treated me like I was one of the guys on the team.”
The future D2 athlete looked at several other schools throughout New England before picking Georgian Court, which is located in Lakewood, New Jersey.
“I was looking at St. Michael’s (Vermont) and it’s a wonderful school. Their academic system is phenomenal and their lacrosse team is very good. I looked at Eastern Connecticut State. I looked at Western Connecticut State and I looked at other schools that I hadn’t visited, but Georgian Court, just as soon as I hopped on campus, it felt like a home,” said Levasseur.
Levasseur admitted that athletes from Maine are at a little bit of a disadvantage when it comes to the recruiting process.
“It is definitely a little bit more difficult for Maine kids. Most of the big tournaments that colleges are scouting are in Massachusetts, Connecticut, New York and Maryland,” said Levasseur. “It’s kind of a catch-22 because in Maine it’s a little bit easier to shine because there’s not as much talent as those other states, but at the same time some college coaches aren’t willing to come up to Maine to watch a game whereas if you’re down in (Massachusetts), they will be able to see your high school games.”
The TA standout had some advice for high school athletes in Maine — don’t be afraid to contact college coaches.
“As far as being noticed goes as a Maine athlete, if you want to be noticed you really have to put your name out there. You have to initiate emails with coaches. You’re going to get emails through summer tournaments, but if you really want to get noticed, you need to email the coaches and put your name out there as best as you can,” Levasseur said.
Levasseur, who helped the Trojans lacrosse team win the first state championship in program history last spring, credits his time at TA with preparing him for the next level — both in the classroom and on the field.
“I mean TA is where I’ve learned everything. It has taught me how to hold myself accountable. How to hold other people around me accountable. I’ve learned how to work well with people. When to draw the line as far as telling other people what to do, having them tell me what to do. I’ve learned where that line is. It’s just throughout my experience at Thornton Academy, between athletics and academics, I’ve grown from a kid into a man,” Levasseur said.
Levasseur knows that without the help of TA head coach Ryan Hersey and all of the program’s assistant coaches he probably wouldn’t be in this position.
“I couldn’t have asked for better coaches or teammates. We have both coach Herseys (head coach Ryan and assistant Mike). We have coach Aaron Scott. We have (Chris) Driscoll. We have all of these phenomenal coaches and each one of them has contributed to our team in different ways, but overall they have made us all better players and better people,” said Levasseur.
The TA senior also praised his teammates — from the Trojans’ star players to the reserves — for always working to make the team better.
“My teammates, I mean we have All-Americans on our team and then we’ve got kids who don’t get any attention as far as press or even game time, but in practices they play just as hard as everybody else,” said Levasseur. “(It’s) because we have everybody playing that hard it really shows that no matter who you are, if you push hard then you are going to help the whole team grow.”
Before Levasseur heads off to the next level, the TA standout is looking to bring some more gold back to Saco — both on the ice and the lacrosse field.
“First off is hockey. This is my last season playing hockey and it would be really cool to go out with a state championship,” Levasseur said. “Being a senior this year, and a couple other seniors on the team that I know it means a lot to, we’d really like to finish up our hockey careers with a state championship.”
The Trojans will certainly have a target on their backs when the 2019 lacrosse season rolls around — but Levasseur is confident they have what it takes to make another championship run.
“We did it last year … we did something nobody thought we were going to be able to do or even think about doing,” said Levasseur. “Although we graduated some very good seniors, a lot of firepower, we’ve got a very young team that’s coming up and we’re going to be a top team for years to come and I think we’ll prove that this year.”
— Sports Editor Pat McDonald can be reached at pmcdonald@journaltribune.com or at 780-9017. Follow the Journal Tribune Sports Department on Twitter @JournalTsports.