Men’s club lacrosse scores on community building

Adrien Gobin / THE GATEPOST

By Sophia Oppedisano Sports Editor The Framingham State men’s club lacrosse team is a thriving campus group that has found success in the past few years with their skill, dedication, and loyalty to the University driving their passion for the game. Athletics are a vital piece of the fabric that make up the culture at Framingham State, and men’s lacrosse Head Coach Tim Ryan is prepared to continue on with that legacy. Ryan took over the program three years ago intending to establish a “good, hard-working culture. “Typically, if you can do that, the wins start to follow,” he added. The NCAA Division III teams at Framingham State have found great success in recent seasons, and the student-athletes who dedicate their lives to a full course load, a job, and their relationships represent the University with a level of passion and dedication that is second to none. Even though NCAA student athletics can be incredibly rewarding, the demands of a varsity student-athlete’s schedule are often grueling and undesirable to many high school athletes preparing for college, according to Athletic Director Thomas Kelley. The opportunity to play a club sport is a perfect compromise for FSU students. It is clear nothing can separate the players on the men’s lacrosse team from their love of the game, The men’s club lacrosse team participates in the Continental Lacrosse Conference (CLC). This 2025 season, they boasted a 23-player roster that helped the team go 7-3 and make their third championship bid in three seasons. Unfortunately, the Rams could not pull out the championship win against Worcester Polytechnic Institute on April 27, but the loss has not deterred the team. “The last three seasons, we've reached our conference championship game, and we've lost the championship game all three seasons. Our goal every year is to win the last game of the year, and our goal is not going to change moving forward,” Ryan said. Ryan’s intensity is also evident in his players, including senior Devante Dixon, a dual-sport athlete who plays for the lacrosse team and held the position of assistant captain for the men’s ice hockey team. Dixon, who had never picked up a lacrosse stick before his freshman year at Framingham State, said what he enjoyed about this 2025 team is their “willingness to take it seriously.” He said the team was “just something fun to do three or four times a week,” when he was a freshman. His roommates had extra gear he could use, and they taught him how to play by just “throwing me into the mix,” Dixon said. He said his athleticism helped him pick up on the game quickly as he watched his teammates and figured out how to pass and shoot. “Then this year we had our team meetings and it was all like we were just ready to go from the jump, and everyone bought in too - everyone's about that life and trying to win the championship,” Dixon added. That kind of drive, Dixon said, can be attributed to Ryan. “He's not asking guys to do anything that he wouldn't do. He's not asking guys to put in more energy than he would. … I would put $3 million on the fact that he probably spends seven hours for every one hour that we spend thinking about lacrosse. I think him just being passionate about it himself is what drives us,” he said. Similarly to Dixon, senior Joe Payne was also convinced to join the team by a friend this past year after playing lacrosse four years ago in high school. Payne said joining the club was a great opportunity for him to stay fit while he reconnected with the sport. “There’s a lot of chemistry on this team and a lot of good guys. Everyone just lifts each other up and we talk to each other on the sidelines… that's the type of communication that made this team thrive,” he added. Dixon and Payne are two of nine graduating seniors on the team this year, a group Ryan refers to as the “core” of the team. Ryan said their hard work, dedication, and their ability to be coachable helped establish “a successful, winning culture.” Aside from the loss of the graduating seniors, the club will be losing an essential part of their team in goalie Evan Donnelly, a junior. Donnelly played high school lacrosse in Maryland, but he said he grew up on hockey and ultimately decided to attend college as a Division III hockey player. “I turned away a few lacrosse offers, and then ended up coming here a few years later. Then, unfortunately, before my sophomore year, I got cut from the hockey team here, and I kind of fell back in love with lacrosse,” he said. For his senior year, Donnelly will be moving on from club lacrosse and Framingham State to play at the NCAA Division III level for Lycoming College in Pennsylvania. “Evan’s amazing. I love that kid. I'm gonna miss him like crazy,” Ryan said. Donnelly called Ryan during the offseason to let him know he wanted to pursue the NCAA level for his last year of college. “I could kind of hear it in his voice that he was a little nervous to tell me that, which certainly made me laugh, because I was like, ‘Buddy, that's a yes - you fully deserve that, and I don't want you to feel any remorse for chasing that dream.’ He absolutely deserves it, and he deserves to be recognized on that level, because he's just an absolute rock and a great leader too,” Ryan said. Even though he is excited to begin the next chapter of his career at Lycoming, Donnelly said playing for Framingham was a “breath of fresh air. It's the first team I've been on, in probably my 24 years of playing sports, where no one really cares about themselves. There's been no one who's overly worried about how many points they get, or anything like that. I think for the most part, all 23 guys that we had this year wanted to win a championship, and didn't really care what it took.” Kelley said he’s always enjoyed watching Donnelly play and said he’s a phenomenal athlete and goalie. “That'll be a big missing piece next year, when he's not here,” Kelley said. Kelley’s admiration extends to the entire team. “I enjoy watching them. … They work and they play hard,” he said. Kelley believes club sports are a “happy medium” for student-athletes who want to play their sport without the stricter time commitments. “With the varsity sports, it's a huge time commitment - not so much with the club sports. Instead of practicing five days a week, they practice two or three days a week. So the time commitment isn't as great, and the academic standards aren't as strict. I think it's great for the University, and that kids are involved,” Kelley added. Cully Curan, the club sports coordinator for the Athletic Department, said club sports give students another social group on campus and an opportunity to step outside their comfort zones. He said he believes the success of the men’s lacrosse team comes from the athletes who play varsity sports and spread the word on their teams. “I think they just enjoy playing with each other more than anything else. I think you can see it when you go to the games that they enjoy playing with each other, being on the field together, and they always have a smile on their faces when they're down there,” he said. Kelley and Curan agree the team’s success is a testament to the passion of the coaching staff and the commitment of the players. Donnelly said after the final game of the season, he was laughing with a few teammates after classes one afternoon, as the first week without practices and games began. “We’re like, ‘Now what do we do,’” he said. Donnelly added, “It just gave us something to be proud of because not many schools in the country, even at the club level, give you the chance to wear your school on the chest. … We get treated so well by the school, and being able to represent and not feel like we're an off-branch - it created a good feeling for us all to represent more than just ourselves. “Plus, looking up in the stands at our home games - it just felt like we mattered to the school, and it made us all feel like we were at home,” he said.