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Heading to Yale
Calverton senior picks Ivy League school
Friday, May 29, 2009
 Click here to enlarge this photo File photos by DARWIN WEIGEL
Calverton senior Peter Spaulding made 112 saves (62 percent) and scooped up 26 groundballs this past season.
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Peter Spaulding has led The Calverton School to great heights and now is the time he will attempt to do the same at the next level after accepting an athletic scholarship with Ivy League-based Yale University.
"I'm extremely excited," Spaulding said in a recent telephone interview. "I don't think I'll really know what it'll feel like [to be a Bulldog] until the first time I step on campus. It's just kind of been a name but when I get there, it'll really feel real."
Spaulding, who is leaning toward economics, was pursued by Harvard, Georgetown University and the University of North Carolina but took his time to select just the right fit for him.
"The recruiting process is tough," the 17-year-old Huntingtown resident admitted. "Sometimes you go through it and it's really like a roller coaster ride. It got a little bit stressful. I wanted to go Ivy League so I decided early on to focus on that. I actually did let some opportunities slip by but I definitely feel [Yale's] a perfect match."
"I love the academics and I love the athletics," he added. "I think it's a perfect combination of both. I couldn't be happier with my decision."
Spaulding said he also looked into Johns Hopkins, at which his brother David is a junior midfielder/defender.
"It would have been cool [to be a Blue Jay] but I guess I had different views and wanted different things than my brother," he said. "It's also kind of cool to make your own path."
"I think it's a really nice fit for him on the three levels which are most important to him," Calverton head coach Jonathan Montes said, "which is academically, socially and athletically."
And Spaulding's made his own path in the crease from a young age and Montes took note of the seventh-grade goalie on Calverton's middle school team.
"I had coached two of his older brothers [David and Matt] so I knew the type of character of the kid I'd be getting [when he played varsity]," Montes said. "And I knew coming out of that family that he'd be a worker. I thought he had a nice developing skill set. He gets beat once, twice, he doesn't dwell on it; he looks forward to making the next play."
As a freshman, Spaulding was the second-string goalie behind starter Nick Allen but Spaulding continued to improve.
"That first year helped me get used to things," Spaulding said. "It was a challenge but I felt prepared."
Another challenge that was thrown at him was trying to stop shots during practice, including those from David, a sniper-like attackman.
"He shot on me and I give a lot of credit to him for making me better," Spaulding said of his brother. "Whenever we'd get some free time he'd bring me over to Calverton and shoot on me. Nick and I would switch off and there were some good shooters in that class, Dave, Ben [Ganley] and John [Brozena]. It was kind of nerve-wracking."
But Spaulding began steadily improving and he made The Recorder's All-County first team his junior year. He made 164 saves for a save percentage of 65 and allowed just 4.5 goals per game. He was named All-Maryland Independent lacrosse League first team and made a season-high 18 saves in an overtime win against Virginia powerhouse Notre Dame Academy.
"You hate to point to any one game and say, ‘That's the pinnacle of a guy's career,'" Montes said of the game, which Calverton trailed at the half. "But he played extremely solid and he kept the defense solid. He had a really great day and that's what allowed us to win that game."
This past season Spaulding made 112 saves (62 percent), scooped up 26 groundballs and led the Cougars to an overtime win over Notre Dame in the MILL title game.
But now it's on to Yale, and Spaulding, who was a unanimous pick for MILL first-team honors, knows what he must do to make his mark at the collegiate level.
"I know I'll have to fight for a [starting] spot but I'm looking forward to the competition," he said. "As long as I go in there with a workman's attitude and get down to business, hopefully good things will happen."
"He's got a couple things you need in a goalie and first off he has great respect for the team," Montes said. "He has great lacrosse IQ and understands the game and he understands when and when not to move out of different defensive formations and he has the ability to make very, very big saves. And he has a great knack of moving the ball from the defensive end to the offensive end with his clears. He comes from great [lacrosse] lineage and when you have that type of dedication from a family, it really helps a kid grow and blossom insofar as lacrosse is concerned."
Spaulding said he needs to work on several aspects of his game such as his footwork, hand speed and clears, but Montes feels like his star goalie will be successful.
