PHOTO BY ANDREW GARDA/STAFF
by Andrew Garda
garda@montclairlocal.news
It’s been an interesting journey through Montclair High School for boys lacrosse goaltender Drew Skibniewski. After starting at the varsity level his freshman year, Skibniewski left Montclair for private school. A year later he returned as a junior, but had to sit out part of the season due to transfer rules.
He’s back though, and between the goalposts for the Mounties, as they took on crosstown rival Montclair Kimberley Academy on Saturday, April 13, is where he wanted to be for a long time.
“I haven’t played MKA since my freshman year,” he said after the Mounties had secured a 9-4 win. “So, I’ve been thinking about this game ever since I decided to come back. Not playing last year was pretty rough…and I’ve had this game circled on my calendar since then.”
Skibniewski thinks the Mounties’ 5-3 record could be just the beginning for the team.
“Being able to continue that, going to counties and hopefully making the finals and going to states and doing well there, I’m just looking forward to keep winning and keep on doing well.”
Skibniewski, who will play lacrosse at Wesleyan University next year, took a few minutes to talk about lacrosse and more for this week’s Athlete Spotlight.
What attracted you to Wesleyan?
I think it was just the combination of academics and the high-quality lacrosse team. Academics there are really top notch and top of the country, and I’ll really get a chance to study a lot of things with the open curriculum. And I get to take whatever classes I want to take. And I was really attracted to that. And then lacrosse-wise, they won the D3 national championship last season and so that’s awesome, to go and compete at a top-level lacrosse school. Winning’s always really fun.
Do you have a major?
I’ll study economics and then I’ll either minor or take a double major in math or computer science. That’s why the open curriculum is nice, because I can start taking those classes from my freshman year without all the requirements that I’d have to take in other schools.
Did committing last summer take some of the weight off of playing?
Before I committed, everything was about getting recruited for college, and that was always in the back of my mind, even if other things were more important at the time. Getting that done, I was able to just focus on getting better as a player, focus on playing well and not worry about the outside noise. I think that’s led to my success this season and hopefully helped the team.
What do you do when not playing lacrosse?
I’m big into watching sports on TV. I play video games occasionally, but hanging out with my friends probably takes up most of my free time.