By DAVE O’SULLIVAN
Staff Writer
Sometimes, a guy has to go away to figure out where home really is. Chris Kaczmarski, a senior at Stockton University and former standout lacrosse player at Mainland Regional High School, began his career at Salisbury but a shoulder injury prevented him from ever playing for the Seagulls.
Just a few years later, Kaczmarski — all 5-foot-7 of him — is a key senior on a Stockton University men’s lacrosse team that has put together the best season in school history. The Ospreys finished 16-3 and made it to the Skyline Conference championship game, and had winning streaks of six and seven games. Stockton’s only regular-season losses came against Haverford in the third game of the season and a conference setback to Montclair State.
“This is the best regular season in school history. It’s been pretty cool to see the transformation,” Kaczmarski said. “I didn’t go here originally, but that class when I was a freshman went from 7-9 to now 15-2, it’s been pretty unbelievable.”
Kaczmarski, a Somers Point resident, is a name familiar to Mainland fans. Older brother C.J. graduated in 2009 and younger brother Collin in 2015. Chris had an outstanding career as a Mustang, finishing with 54 goals and 70 assists, and both he and C.J. were all-Cape-Atlantic League honorable mention selections in 2009. Collin had a standout career as well, finishing with 39 goals and 25 assists, and cousin Jason helped lead St. Augustine Prep to a 17-4 record in 2009 before graduating.
Chris Kaczmarski’s game began to flourish under the tutelage of current Stockton head coach Kevin Zulauf and assistant Noah Morris. Zulauf has been at the helm for eight years, but the past four have been his most impressive. Heading into this year, the Ospreys were 41-18 in the three previous seasons, and in 2015 Zulauf was named the Skyline Conference’s Coach of the Year after leading the Ospreys to a berth in the tournament championship game. Zulauf began his college playing career at Wagner, where he became the first player in school history to earn all-MAAC honors, and later transferred to Stockton, where his 40 assists in 2006 are the third-best in school history.
“The guys have worked extremely hard and it’s showing with the results we’ve been having,” Zulauf said. “We’ve graduated 21 guys in the last two years, so we knew that was going to be tough to overcome. There’s no question that what our guys have been doing the past couple of years have opened the doors for us (for recruiting). One thing I try to remind the guys who have graduated already is they are a big part of this, and they got us here. We’re getting kids now who we wouldn’t have gotten four or five years ago. When you start winning games and appearing in championship games, recruits take notice.”
“I had known about Stockton growing up. My first impression was that it was a lot different, with their philosophy and style,” Kaczmarski said. “To get here and have coach Zulauf take guys under his wing and really teach us about the game was pretty amazing. It was no time at all before I felt like I was right at home. The seniors and all the guys on the team really made my transition easy.”
While the transition may have been easy, Kaczmarski said he knew right away that college lacrosse was a whole different animal than the competition he was facing in high school in the Cape-Atlantic League.
“The speed of the game is something you definitely have to get adjusted to. On a college lacrosse team, everybody is there because they were picked to be there. Nobody is there because they just wanted to sign up, they were selected to be on that team. So, there are no easy games,” he said. “Playing in the summer for Tri-State, which is a big-time summer program, we played a lot of top-notch programs. I played against guys who went Division I, Division II and big-time Division III, so I guess the consistency of the speed of the game and everyone knowing how to play was definitely the biggest and toughest transition.”
Kaczmarski said he knew this year’s team had some talent, but he never expected the Ospreys to put up 16 wins and finish second behind Montclair State in the Skyline Conference regular season standings.
“We have a really young team. At the beginning of the season, I was not expecting to go 15-2 (in the regular season). We only have four seniors, so we don’t have a ton of experience, but we do have a lot of talent. And coach Zulauf has done a great job with that talent, making sure we are not slacking off and we’re doing what we’re supposed to be doing,” Kaczmarski said. “We have a lot of underclassmen who have experience. We have a good group of guys.”
What made this season even more exciting, Kaczmarski said, was Stockton ripping off a couple of long winning streaks.
“It’s definitely a really cool feeling to be on a run like that, but it come with its challenges, too. To be crisp and be able to do everything right every day is definitely a challenge sometimes, but to have eight or nine wins in a row you know guys aren’t slacking off at all,” he said. “It’s a cool experience to know everybody on the team has bought in and that we all have the same common goal, and everybody is giving their all to get there.”
It’s taken a lot of commitment and sacrifice for Kaczmarski, not only to come back from an early injury but also to keep up with his studies, but he said he wouldn’t trade the experience he’s had for anything.
“I’ll remember the experiences I’ve had with my teammates — the bus trips, the locker room, the camaraderie — that’s something I’ll never forget. The memories I’m making with these guys will last a lifetime. I would do this again, and again,” Kaczmarski said. “It’s sad that it’s coming to an end. It’s definitely been worth it. It’s been stressful at times to manage classes and the sport, and you have to make certain sacrifices, but to live the life experiences that you get from a game and from a team like I’ve been able to be on is something that makes it all worth it.”
As for what is next, Kaczmarski still has one semester of academics to get through, then he’ll worry about figuring out the rest of his life. But, he definitely wants lacrosse to continue to be a part of what he does.
“I’ll be graduating next fall with a business degree,” he said. “Hopefully, I can get into coaching, hang up the cleats and pick up the whistle.”
Contact Dave O’Sullivan: sully@acglorydays.com; on Twitter @GDsullysays