DeMatha Grads Part of National Title Teams

The success of the football and basketball programs at are well known. The athletic programs of both sports have sent a ton of players to the Division I college ranks and several to the NBA and NFL as well.

But the lacrosse program at the all-boys private school off Route 1 has also had its share of success, and that was evident recently as the national championships were held in college lacrosse.

Salisbury University won the Division III men's title on May 29 16-7 over Tufts at M&T Bank Stadium in Baltimore and the Sea Gulls had two former DeMatha players on its roster this season: senior defender Michael Schwab and junior midfielder Sean McKenna.

"It was a road to redemption," Schwab said of the national title, which came a year after Salisbury lost in the title game, also to Tufts. "I think everyone was caught up in the moment and forgot what we were there for [last year]. This year, we were used to being there."

For good measure the Hyattsville school had a player on the roster this year for the Univesity of Virginia men's lacrosse team, which beat Maryland on May 30 for the Division I NCAA title.

That was freshman midfielder Pat Harbeson, who was one of the top recruits in the country while with the Stags. He had 163 goals in his DeMatha career, was the WCAC player of the year and also played football at DeMatha.

He played in nine games this year for Virginia and Harbeson should be a big part of the future at Virginia, according to Schwab. Harbeson was a freshman when Schwab was a senior at DeMatha.

Harbeson was involved in Big Brothers and Big Sisters and the Fellowship of Christian Athletes at DeMatha. He played in nine games this season for Virginia.

"He is an up and coming player," Schwab said of Harbeson.

Schwab played in 17 games this year for Salisbury, which was 21-1 and won the ninth title in school history. McKenna played in two games for the Sea Gulls. Ironically, both of those players began their college career with Division I programs in Maryland before they transferred to Salisbury. Neither of them saw action in the title game on Sunday.

Schwab played two years at Mount St. Mary's while McKenna was at Maryland, Baltimore County before transferring to the Division III school. They were teammates in lacrosse and football at DeMatha. Schwab said he decided to transfer to Salisbury since it was a larger school than The Mount and he knew some friends at SU. He did not have to sit out a season since he transferred to a lower level than Division I when he left The Mount.

Schwab is studying business and IT info systems and had an internship last summer with U.S Census Bureau. This summer Schwab has another internship, in the IT field, and plans to graduate in December from Salisbury. His college career in lacrosse ended in fine fashion on Sunday, and was another feather in the cap of the DeMatha program.