Rick Mercurio has coached a number of eventual high school and college lacrosse coaches, but maybe none with as much high profile status as Joe Amplo and Brian Brecht, who are both Division I men’s lacrosse coaches at big universities.
The Sachem alums coached against each other on Saturday in a game at Rutgers. Amplo’s Marquette team played in New Jersey against Brecht’s Rutgers squad. Mercurio, a Rutgers alumnus, was in attendance and doing color commentary on R-Vision, a Scarlet Knights affiliated broadcast.
Marquette beat Rutgers, 14-13, to capture its first BIG East victory since becoming a lacrosse program last season and joining the conference.
“From a fan’s perspective it must have been a fun game to watch, and I think our kids had fun out there today,” Amplo said after the game. “We were fortunate that we were able to make one more play than Rutgers there at the end.”
-Words by Chris R. Vaccaro