University of Massachusets Athletics
Boston Globe Features UMass Lacrosse All-American Sean Morris
March 27, 2006 | Men's Lacrosse
March 27, 2006
By Paul Harber, Globe Staff
Sean Morris is on top of the world. The former Marshfield High School superstar is wrapping up an All-America lacrosse career at the University of Massachusetts in Amherst.
In his first five games this year, Morris, a 5-foot-9-inch, 190-pound attack, has nine goals and 20 assists for the defending New England champions. He is thought of so highly in collegiate circles that he is a candidate for the Tewaararton Trophy, emblematic of the top player in the nation.
However, his collegiate career did not get off to such a promising start.
Morris first enrolled at Rutgers University in New Brunswick, N.J. But when the lacrosse coach abruptly left, Morris did not want to stay at Rutgers. He was homesick and had misgivings about his decision.
''When I was being recruited, I nearly chose UMass. I liked the coach, Greg Cannella. So I gave him a call and told him I decided to transfer to UMass," said Morris.
It wasn't easy. He hoped that Rutgers would let him out of his athletic scholarship, but the school declined and stood firm. Eventually, Morris hired an attorney. He transferred to UMass, and had to sit out a season because of Rutgers' refusal to rescind its athletic scholarship contract.
According to National Collegiate Athletic Association bylaws, a collegian is allowed five years to complete his four years of eligibility. Morris sat out the 2001 season, played the following year, and has played every season since. This year he is a fifth-year senior, his final season.
Cannella knew he had a special player in Morris long before he walked on to the Amherst campus.
Cannella scouted him and even attended a Marshfield High School football game. He saw Morris as more than just a bone-crushing running back.
''I could see he was an athlete," said Cannella. ''He wasn't just a good lacrosse player. He was simply a great athlete. He would have been good at anything he tried. He's a fiery competitor. He plays with a ton of enthusiasm and energy. He has been a great leader on and off the field, which is why our players made him one of our captains." Growing up in Marshfield, Morris was good at anything he tried. Besides lacrosse -- he was on the varsity team as an eighth-grader -- Morris was a good enough football player to receive college scholarship offers, and at times it got confusing.
''I'd get a call from a coach and I wasn't sure if he was a lacrosse coach or a football coach," said Morris. ''I had to listen to what they said and hope for clues about what sport they were talking about."
Morris chose lacrosse. He said he knew that's where he had a better future.
''I had a good high school football career, but I had great teammates and they made me look good as a running back," he said. Morris played during an era when Marshfield High School had one of the top offensive lines in the nation. Several players went on to play at the college level and were highly successful. But before his senior year, he decided football was not his first choice.
''I went up to [Marshfield football] coach [Lou] Silva and told him to tell college coaches I wasn't interested in playing football. I was going to focus on lacrosse."
It was the right decision. For the second year in a row, Morris was named to the watch list for the Tewaaraton Trophy. Last year he was selected as one of five finalists for the award, but the honor went to Johns Hopkins midfielder Kyle Harrison. Finalists are chosen in May, and in the first week of June, a panel of coaches and other lacrosse dignitaries will choose this year's winner.
This spring he will graduate with a degree in economics and hopes to find a position in the lacrosse equipment industry.
As a junior, he was the Eastern Collegiate Athletic Conference and the New England Player of the Year. He was a US Intercollegiate Lacrosse Association All-America selection. As a junior, he finished fourth in the nation in scoring (4.32 points per game) and fourth in goals per game (2.75).
At one point last year, Morris strung together a 22-game scoring streak. His 44 goals and 25 assists for 69 points was the most by a UMass player since 1993, when Hall of Famer Mark Millon had 81.
''He's totally committed to the program and he is special," said Cannella. ''He has speed, quickness, and strength. Few players have all three. There are quick players who don't have the strength and strong players who don't have the speed. But he is the total package."