By Mike Flanagan
Hometown Weekly Sports Editor
Part of being a collegiate athlete is enjoying the ride that got you to where you are.
Walpole native Will McCarthy has been on quite the lacrosse journey throughout the last eight years, starring at Xaverian and helping the Hawks to a state championship in 2013 before earning Catholic Conference All-Star honors his senior season in 2015. McCarthy went on play a post-grad year at Trinity-Pawling (New York) in 2016, where he was named to the All-Founders League team. McCarthy’s hard work on the field and in the classroom earned him a Division I offer to play at Mercer University in Macon, Georgia.
Coming off a career junior year in 2019 where he started all 13 contests, scored 16 goals with eight assists, recorded 15 ground balls, and caused two turnovers, McCarthy was set to play his senior season this spring. Expectations for Mercer lacrosse in 2020 were high, with players such as McCarthy, leading scorer Sean Goldsmith (34 goals, eight assist), Carl Klepper (11 goals, four assists) all back, as well as an extremely strong incoming freshman class.
The Bears began the 2020 season 6-1, their best start in program history. McCarthy recorded three goals, four assists and a pair of ground balls throughout the seven games. Unfortunately, the COVID-19 outbreak forced the entire remainder of the 2020 NCAA spring athletic season into cancellation. Around the country, many seniors in high school and college have been stripped of their athletic careers in the blink of an eye due to the pandemic. Most seniors in college are finishing up their academic years online and have moved home for the summer, thus ending their time at school. For Will McCarthy, however, that has not been the approach; he has decided to return to Mercer in the fall, where he will play as a grad student. McCarthy says the chance to go out on his own terms while furthering his education as a grad student really did not take much decision-making.
“During my career here, the team has faced a lot of adversity,” said McCarthy. “We have lost many heartbreaking one-goal games and made many sacrifices to build this program. With our best start in program history this past season at 6-1, we finally flipped the switch. The commitment that my teammates have made, especially this senior class, make this opportunity to return that much more special. Academically, the school is allowing students to enter their 4+1 program, which allows me to finish a graduate degree by next May. Being able to play one more season with my team, while completing a graduate degree in under a year, is an opportunity I can’t pass up.”
McCarthy and his fellow senior counterparts have opted to remain on campus together for the remainder of the academic year. McCarthy says he and his teammates are doing what they can to stay in shape and take care of all of their academic work online during quarantine.
“At this time of the year, it is definitely weird not having a hectic schedule,” said McCarthy. “It still feels like the Bears should be in the midst of conference play competing for the SoCon championship. As a class, the seniors have decided to remain on campus and ride out our last few weeks together. Luckily, they are keeping the field house and weight room open for us so we can lift, run, and shoot around. Other than that, we are trying our best to take care of our online classes and watching a lot of Netflix.”
As far as expectations for next season, Mercer returns nearly its entire roster. McCarthy says he and his teammates are fired up to return and play with one another.
“I don’t think the Bears are losing a single starting player for next year,” said McCarthy. “Michael O’Brien, our starting LSM who was unable to play this spring, is also returning from an ACL injury, and will bring some senior leadership to a younger defense. We won a couple of statement games this year and have a lot of potential moving forward. I am very excited for where this team is headed and can’t wait to be a part of it.”
For funny and incisive sports analysis as well as game highlights, follow Mike Flanagan on his personal Twitter and Instagram @flano0.
