Colonial Athletic Association Co-Player of the Year. CAA Rookie of the Year. No. 2 freshman in the nation as ranked by Inside Lacrosse. These honors are just a few of the accolades attackman Colin Burke ‘19 garnered in his first campaign in the red and white just a season ago.
“It was all pretty unexpected to be honest,” Burke said. “I did not really know what to think going into my freshman year but it all turned out great for me.”
But that was 2016, and with 46 goals and 63 total points now in the books, Burke is ready to reach new heights this spring as the clear-cut leader of the Stags.
“I want to keep doing what I did last year,” Burke said. “I was a little bit more of a goal scorer last year so this year I am hoping to get my assists numbers up and take the role of quarterback on offense so they will run things through me from behind the net.”
It is obvious that the Long Island native knows that much is expected of him this year. In a matter of months in 2016, Burke vaulted himself from an unheralded freshman to one of the most talked about players in the country. With the hype comes the immense pressure to follow up his freshman season with an even better second year, but Burke is steadfast on sticking to his game and who he is as a player despite the attention.
“I am going to play the way I like to play out there,” Burke said. “I am going to be confident and hopefully I’ll continue playing well throughout my sophomore year.”
If Burke performs like Fairfield and the rest of the lacrosse world expects him to this year, the Stags’ opponents are in grave trouble. He has recently been tabbed preseason 2017 CAA Player of the Year and Preseason Third Team All-America.
On the team front, Inside Lacrosse has slated Fairfield at No. 17 in their preseason rankings, in large part due to the emergence of Burke as a bonafide star. Burke and the Stags have swagger coming into the 2017 campaign with their leader setting the tone.
“The word is confidence,” Burke said. “If you have confidence you are going to be a good player in college lacrosse.”
Look for Burke and the Stags to start the season on the right foot on Feb. 11 as they travel to Virginia to take on the Richmond Spiders in their first game of the season.
Information Compiled by Daniel Montgomery, Infographic by Piktochart
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