Hampton middle schoolers stick with lacrosse

Draven Malcolm is proof that mom knows best.

When the Hampton 13-year-old was in fourth grade, his mother, Dawn, suggested he give lacrosse a try.

Draven’s passion was dek hockey, and he wasn’t thrilled with the proposal.

“My mom kind of said I had to,” he said. “I pretty much didn’t really have a choice.”

Now he can’t get enough of it.

Malcolm and fellow Hampton seventh graders Aiden Commendatore and Patrick McCabe are part of a U13 Pittsburgh-area team that later this month will try to qualify for the 2021 World Series of Youth Lacrosse.

The True Lacrosse Pennsylvania team will join more than two dozen U13 boys teams at the WSYL East Regional Qualifier on March 27-28 in Frederica, Del.

“I’m really excited,” said Commendatore, 13, one of two goalies on the roster, “and I really want to have fun.”

The field includes the teams from Delaware, Washington, D.C., Maryland, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Virginia and West Virginia. The top six teams in their age group will earn a spot in the WSYL championship June 30-July 3 in Gaithersburg, Md.

While some of the Eastern states are the nation’s strongest lacrosse areas, Western Pennsylvania is relatively new to the highest level of the sport.

The Pittsburgh team is only the second from Western Pennsylvania to compete in the seventh annual event. No team from the area has reached the WSYL championship.

But coach Jason Rozembersky has put together a group of players he believes can stand their ground with clubs from traditional lacrosse hotbeds.

“It’s gotten to the point where I think we are capable of competing at that national level. Will we win? I don’t know,” he said. “But when you get all the best kids in Western Pennsylvania on one team, we can compete. And I’ve finally been able to do that.”

The boys began practicing as a team in January and tuned up for the regional qualifier by going 3-1 at the Atlantic Spring Classic in Delaware on March 6.

McCabe, who turned 13 on March 15, and Malcolm, 13, are midfielders for True Pa.

McCabe, who like Malcolm and Commendatore got started with Hampton Youth Lacrosse, took up the sport about five years ago.

“Whenever I would come home from baseball practice, I would always look over at Fridley (Field) and see the high schoolers practicing lacrosse and I always thought it looked like a really cool sport,” McCabe said. “So then I just wanted to try it.”

Rozembersky said all three Hampton middle schoolers play a key role on the U13 team.

“Patrick is a great athlete, and he’s very smooth all over the field,” Rozembersky said. “He’s a kid you can always rely on.”

Rozembersky said Malcolm is “tough as nails” and “has improved leaps and bounds,” and Commendatore is “fearless” in goal.

Rozembersky, a New Jersey native, played club lacrosse at New Hampshire and is a member of the Hungarian national team. The 33-year-old took the reins of the Pittsburgh-area True Lacrosse program in summer of 2018 and has seen numbers double to 10-plus teams with roughly 230 kids.

The 23-boy U13 roster includes players from 13 school districts in the WPIAL.

Commendatore said the team is eager to prove Pittsburgh is making strides in lacrosse on the biggest stage.

“I definitely think some competition would think of us as not being that great because we’re not known for being an amazing lacrosse area,” he said. “That makes me want to try really hard to show that we’re doing good.”