BALLSTON LAKE, N.Y. — Even as the underdog in this past season’s NCAA Division-I Men’s Lacrosse Championship tournament, the UAlbany Great Danes still felt they had everything to lose.
It’s a different mentality from most 16-seeds, especially after already winning a play-in game and matching up with the top overall seed. It rang especially true for Great Danes midfielders Darien, 23, and Caeden, 21, LaPietro – brothers and alumni of Burnt Hills-Ballston Lake High School.
When the Great Danes lost to Notre Dame, the eventual 2024 Champion, in the NCAA first round, on May 12, in South Bend, Indiana, the brothers’ time together in scholastic competition ended. They had been sharing a lacrosse field, playing side-by-side for half of the last decade.
Earlier that same day, Darien celebrated his graduation from UAlbany with a master’s degree in business administration (MBA). He and the team went out the best way they knew — with a fight.
The Great Danes led the Fighting Irish, 5-4 at the end of the first half on the road, behind a four-goal second quarter. However, in the second half, the Fighting Irish ripped off back-to-back five-goal quarters, to win the contest 14-9, curtailing the Great Danes’ historic season and Darien’s last season on the team, playing alongside family.
“If we lose, and we did end up losing on Sunday, we lose this team, the opportunity to practice the following day, on Monday, is taken away from us,” Darien recalled in an interview with the Saratogian.
“We believed, 100% going into that game that we could achieve the upset and we came in with that mentality that we earned the right to be there. We earned the right to be in that game, in that position, and play Notre Dame.”
“I never expected to be at Notre Dame playing in a lacrosse game, or just being there in general,” added Caeden, “it was just a cool experience and a cool way to end it, even though we ended up losing. Just to get there was just pretty cool. Being able to play with (Darien) was even cooler.”
Darien said he didn’t officially start playing with his brother until his junior year at BHBL, when Caeden was in his freshman year. There was another break in their time sharing the field after Darien graduated from BHBL in 2019, but it picked up again when Caeden committed to join his older brother at UAlbany upon his graduation, in 2021.
For the last three seasons, the Lapietros have played in more than 30 games together for the Great Danes, combining for 64 ground balls, 13 points, and most recently, helped hoist the 2024 America East Postseason title – the program’s first since 2018.
“With Caeden, the past three years have been great. It’s not too often that you can play college lacrosse with your brother. I definitely appreciate that every day,” Darien said. “He was someone that I could always lean on, we could always have each other’s backs and we will continue to, but playing college lacrosse with Caeden these past three years has been super special and I’m very grateful that we got the opportunity to play together.”
But the family ties for the LaPietro’s with lacrosse, extend much further than just each other. For instance, in Darien’s final game, in South Bend, he and Caeden’s father, Jason LaPietro, got a chance to take over duties on the team’s train horn, sounding at the pregame tailgate.
The feat was recognized on the ESPNU broadcast.
“Shawn Pepe, Will’s (graduate-defenseman) Dad, does the train horn, but for the first time he let my dad do it at Notre Dame,” Darien said, “my Dad got one shot at it, at Notre Dame, but it’s something we do to get everyone fired up.”
Will Pepe, a Shaker High School alum, had also been alongside Darien long before UAlbany as well, formerly together playing summer ball for the Albany Power Travel Lacrosse Club.
“It’s been awesome to carry that relationship into college after playing against him in high school and with him playing for Albany Power over the summer,” Darien said. “Will is a super close friend of mine and we had a great five years together.”
Caeden helped bring more old teammates into the mix this past offseason when sophomore attack Kevin Carney, a BHBL ‘22 graduate, announced he was transferring to UAlbany, after spending his freshman year at Canisius.
“When he was in the portal, I knew that he was interested in coming here, so I tried to do everything I could to help him get here. It ended up working out and I think he had a great time and enjoyed it a lot,” Caeden said. “It’s just pretty cool to be able to play with kids you grew up playing with. I’ve played with Kevin since I started playing lacrosse and being able to do that at the collegiate level was again like … you don’t even realize it in the moment.”
In the NCAA First Round, when UAlbany defeated Sacred Heat, 13-7, at Bob Ford Field to advance to face Notre Dame, former BHBL boys varsity lacrosse head coach, Tom Schwan, was calling play-by-play for the game, live on the ESPN+ broadcast.
“He’s announced a couple of games in the past and it’s definitely been cool. Kevin and I, we were in the same stretch-line before the game and we were looking up in the booth and I’m like, ‘I swear that’s coach Schwan,'” Caeden said, “I was like, ‘I think it actually is,’ and then think going back after I realized it was him and watching the game, listening to how he commentated on stuff was pretty cool.
“From where the Burnt Hills program was before, we helped it turn into what it is and now coach Schwan is announcing us in NCAA tournament games now is just pretty cool to see the growth of that in the past five, or six years.”
“Coach Schwan is the man. He’s an awesome person that I had in my life, as a former coach,” Darien said. “You can totally hear it in his voice, and with how he’s calling a game, just how much he loves the sport, the growth of the sport and how it’s changed over the years.”
However, perhaps hitting closest to home was the day Darien ended his career, as it was also Mother’s Day. Eight years ago, in December of 2016, Ginelle Toussaint, the loving mother to Caeden, Darien, and their sister, Morgan, passed away too soon, from cancer.
“It was definitely an emotional day, but I was super focused on the game and I know every day that she’s looking down and watching over me and watching over us. So, just the fact that it was Mother’s Day was a little more emotional,” Darien said. “Losing my mom in high school was one of the reasons I chose UAlbany, it being so close to home, so whenever I needed or wanted to go home and see my family, or be with Grace (fiancee) and her family, I was able to.”
“I think the person I am today has a lot to do with how my mom and my dad raised me from a young age and I just tried to make her proud every day.”
“Darien and I had a cool little moment after the game that I never really expected to have. We just kind of brought each other in and gave each other a hug. We’re not very emotional kids, but we got a little emotional on Mother’s Day,” Caeden added. “Weird coincidences always happen, like the season ended on that day because we ended up playing a game on that day, where we could have played on Saturday; it’s kind of cool thinking that everything happens for a reason, one way or another.”
It’s not a goodbye for either LaPietro at UAlbany, but rather a ‘see you soon,’ as Caeden, still has one year of eligibility remaining on the collegiate lacrosse field and Darien will be remaining local and starting a new position, at Pivotal Optics Inc., in Albany, as an operations analyst and is even engaged to marry his high school sweetheart, Grace Comley, this coming July.
“I’ll try to be at every home game and even see what away games I can make the trip to,” Darien said.
“I sure hope so,” added Caeden with a laugh, “with him living only 30 minutes away I hope he can make the trip once in a while.”
While his brother may still be at the games, it’ll be as a fan, leaving Caeden, entering his senior season, perhaps chasing some bragging rights for around the family dinner table in the season to come, by capturing another conference title and NCAA Tournament run.
“I hadn’t even thought about that yet, but I hope he does. I hope he gets another one, I hope the coaching staff gets another one, I hope the other 49 guys on the team get another one; I wish nothing but the best for the whole program, coaching staff, and all the players, next year. I’ll be there a ton, for sure.”
“That’s the plan for next year: to come back and do what we did last year and hopefully go a little farther,” said Caeden. “But, I’m just glad that he was able to finally get a ring and I was able to do it with him and hopefully next year, the same result ends up happening.”
Whether going into the real world, or still with games left to play, both Caeden and Darien, are bringing lessons and memories from this past season with the Great Danes, into their next steps.
“I’ll hit on two things. First, and it’s something that the whole team talked about- every day, when you get up, you can control your attitude and effort, in anything you do. In sports and in life, your attitude and effort are controllable. That’s what you should focus on; don’t get caught up in stuff you can’t control,” Darien said.
“Then, something I’ve learned the past five years because it is a long season, academic year, from August to May- there are ups and downs and it’s gonna happen. There’s gonna be ups and downs in your academics, ups-and-downs in your social life, and there will be ups-and-downs in lacrosse with how you’re playing, it’s just trying to even that out as much as you can and finding some consistency,” he continued.
“Playing a college sport, being a student-athlete, has taught me to just keep your priorities straight. Get stuff done early, get stuff done on time, don’t be late, but know that no one’s perfect. The standard isn’t perfection, the standard is putting in a positive effort every day.”
