Hingham Athlete Provides Leadership at UMass Boston

Pat Driscoll’s college lacrosse career at UMass Boston started with a bit of curiosity and being at the right place at the right time. The Hingham native, who transferred from the Coast Guard Academy, was out on campus one Fall day when he saw a group of kids playing lacrosse.

Driscoll played for two years at and for two more at the Coast Guard Academy, and little did he know, there was an up-and-coming program right there on the campus of his new school.

A simple curiosity brought him over to the crowd and the rest is history. Driscoll, in his second season on the team, is now the Beacons’ captain and an All-Conference player for the second year in a row.

“I actually didn’t even know they had a lacrosse team here,” said Driscoll. “I applied here just because it was close, it was convenient and they had the major I wanted to do. The old coach said come try out and come play with us.”

The coaching staff has changed hands to Tyler Low, but Low saw something in Driscoll’s on-field leadership that made him throw the “C” right onto the Hingham-product’s jersey.

“He’s been a pretty big piece for us,” said Low. “He played about as much time as anyone. He’s someone that we relied on, on both ends of the field.”

Driscoll had plans to play a college sport since the day he tasted postseason play when he patrolled the midfield for the Harbormen.  He played a role his sophomore and junior season, but switched over to track after a passion for lacrosse left him, but only momentarily.

For two years, he played on the Coast Guard club team and that prepared him to move onto to play at a varsity level in Div. 3 college.

“It’s a lot faster pace,” said Driscoll, who also ran the 800 meter for the Harbormen during his senior season. “Hitting was a lot harder. You’ve got to keep moving. You can’t stand still at all in college lacrosse.”

Driscoll is starting to come into his role as team leader. He led the Beacons with 38 total points, with his 21 goals placing him in second on the team. Now the captain has to worry about the other guys on the field and not just his personal achievement.

“I kind of have to do a lot of multi-tasking on the field,” said Driscoll, who plays offense and defensive midfield, while also handling faceoffs. “You have to take care of your own issues on the field and when you are the captain of the team you have to deal with 18 different sets of problems. Everyone is doing his job to benefit the team. So it’s a little bit harder than just relying on yourself and doing your own work to better yourself as a lacrosse player.”

And to think, that before he became the leader of the 18 men on the Beacons’ lacrosse team, he was just a curious on-looker interested in playing a game.