Cape Elizabeth senior Nate Patterson, joined by his parents, Tyler and Terri, an abundance of teammates and coaches Ben Raymond and Charlie Carroll, is all smiles after signing his National Letter of Intent Monday to attend and play lacrosse at Bryant University in Smithfield, Rhode Island. The Bulldogs are a Division I program who compete in the America East Conference.

Patterson, a standout defenseman for the back-to-back Class A state champions, will join former Cape Elizabeth stars Keegan Lathrop and Tiernan Lathrop at the next level.

“Playing in college has been a dream of mine since I was in the first grade, I really wanted to go Division One and I’m excited where the program’s heading,” said Patterson, who plans to follow a business path but is undecided on a major. “It was nice having my friends at the signing and my parents were proud. I’ve had so much fun playing lacrosse (here at Cape Elizabeth). I’ve looked up to a lot of the older kids and they’ve gone on to play in college.”