Pat Burkinshaw has a similar story as many lacrosse goalies out there. His older brothers needed someone to shoot on so they threw him in.
Little did he know that would be the start of an amazing lacrosse goalie career that would culminate in a D1 national championship while at Virginia and then an All-American season in 2022 at Penn.
The Madison, Conn. native played at the national powerhouse Brunswick School during his high school days, which meant that he had to leave home at 15 years old to attend prep school which we touch on in the episode.
Pat was the #1 goalie in the class of 2018 and ultimately decided to at attend the University of Virginia to continue his lacrosse career. As a freshman Burkinshaw saw a good amount of playing time. Even though the team’s starter that year was Alex Rode, Burkinshaw appeared in 11 games with two starts for NCAA champions.
He even made 24 saves against Princeton to set a Virginia freshman record!
Why leave a national championship team? Something that was on my mind entering this chat and Pat lets us know why he made the decision to enter the transfer portal after his freshman season.
When he arrived at Penn he started getting goalie coaching from Coach Dave Page. Friend of the program who has presented at the Lacrosse Goalie Summit 1 and Lacrosse Goalie Summit 5 and is an outstanding lacrosse goalie mind who trains goalies with Foundation Lacrosse. Pat shared all the goalie tips, tricks, and mindset approaches that Coach Page stresses.
The Ivy League missed out on not 1 but 2 seasons of lacrosse due to the pandemic and while college athletes were given back those years of eligibility, Burkinshaw decided not to return for a graduate year. I was a little surprised by the decision but we chat about what went through his decision making process and why it was the best fit for him.
He still has 2 years of NCAA eligibility so maybe we haven’t seen the last of Pat Burkinshaw!
Lacrosse is my passion! The game has given me so much and this blog is my way of giving back to the lax community. Specifically the most bad a$$ part of that community - the goalies! After learning to play goalie from scratch, I wanted to create a site where I could share what I learned with others so they too can become champions in the crease and in life. Learn more about Coach Damon.
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