The Middletown Press (Middletown, CT)
Gaudet’s latest undertaking helps lift Yale into final
FOXBOROUGH, Mass. — If the first glimpse you catch of Matt Gaudet is his photograph online as part of his Yale bio, wow, it’s scary.
His hair is fairly long. His beard is more than fairly thick. Yet it’s those eyes that are particularly striking. Staring, glaring, those eyes cut right through you.
“A piece of it was for comedy and the other piece is because they started calling me ‘The Undertaker’ last year,” Gaudet said after he had scored six goals to help propel Yale to a 20-11 Final Four rout of Albany on Saturday. “I thought I’d embrace it.
“The Undertaker looks like kind of a psycho in his picture, so I figured I’d just tag along and do it with him. I forget what game it was, but (ESPN analyst) Paul Carcaterra gave me the name. I had incredibly long hair before, halfway down my back. My eye black is all messy. I kind of looked like him.”
An Ivy League school? A national lacrosse semifinal? That’s about the last place you’d figure a WWE metaphor to
jump off the turnbuckle at you. But there was Gaudet scoring on his first five shots and six of eight to bury Albany on Saturday in front of a crowd of 30,616 at Gillette Stadium.
There was Yale blitzing Albany for a 7-0 lead in the opening 11:26. And there was Gaudet, after his scoring his third goal early in the second quarter, turning his stick around and shooting it like it was a rifle. Bull’s-eye. The guy couldn’t miss.
“That was the first time I did it,” Gaudet said. “I’m not even sure where it came from. I just spun around, did a little gun with my stick. The thrill of the moment, I guess.”
There have been lots of thrilling moments for the Bulldogs this spring. Yes, they’d won what has been called a national championship in 1883, a three-way tie as a culmination of a small 19th-century regularseason schedule. But this day marked their first Final Four in 28 years, and now they will face Duke on Monday for their first NCAA championship.
“I couldn’t ask for any more,” said Gaudet, a sophomore from Hamilton, Ontario. “I’m incredibly grateful.”
Ben Reeves is a spectacular lacrosse player in every way. Jackson Morrill is especially skilled. Gaudet has 37 goals this season, but 23 in his past seven games. He is a finisher. He also had a weak start to the season. He did some watching from the sidelines, didn’t start five games.
“Matt was challenged by the coaches, the offensive coordinator Andrew Stimmel and myself,” Yale coach Andy Shay said. “I think we put ourselves in a position where we could say, ‘We have Brendan Rooney (who had a pair of goals Saturday) if you can’t do it for this team.’
“I think every guy on our team at any point in time could use a kick in the pants. Matt got one. He could have sulked. He could have thrown in the towel. Brendan would have played great in his stead. Matt finally won the spot and the rest is we’re here now.”
Yes, they’re in the national championship. Yet the lessons aren’t over.
“I let Matt have it (Friday) in practice,” Shay said. “We try to challenge these guys as much as possible. I hope he can appreciate that. I’ll probably yell at him tomorrow if he’s going to drop six goals on (Duke). ‘Eat your breakfast,’ something. He’s a good kid and an immense talent.”
Opponents key on Reeves, who had five goals and four assists in a typically brilliant performance. They’d be fools not to do so. That opens the field for possibilities for others. Read the coverage. Follow the slide, the coaches always tell Gaudet, get behind your guy.
“Ben draws a lot of attention,” Gaudet said. “Other teams not realizing he’s not the only player we have is a big help. I got some layups today.”
Shay said the team even makes jokes about having other players than Reeves.
“Yeah, we’re a big-time program, we have sticks and uniforms and everything,” Shay said. “We’re not just one guy and a bunch of idiots — coaches — but I do think it’s a statement of how good a player
Ben is.”
Gaudet was an outstanding lacrosse player as a youngster. Yet he gave up the most highly competitive field lacrosse teams for four years to focus on basketball and box lacrosse. College lacrosse coaches can’t start recruiting until you’re 15, so he turned to hoops.
“Basketball helped me tremendously,” Gaudet said. “It correlates with box lacrosse (indoor 5-on-5) a lot better, but field lacrosse as well. The pick-and-rolls, the sets; the only difference is the defensemen have long sticks in lacrosse and the ball is a little bigger.”
Gaudet spent three years at Salisbury School. So he has been around Connecticut for five years. Gaudet said Shane Simpson, a former player at North Carolina, and his family are neighbors of his in Hamilton. Simpson played at Salisbury.
“I wasn’t doing too well back home in public school,” Gaudet said. “They really convinced my parents. When I visited the school, they were incredibly welcoming. Coach (Bobby) Wynne and his staff were incredible. I couldn’t be more grateful to them.”
Salisbury has turned out a bunch of college stars. One of them, Duke’s Justin Guterding, the NCAA Division I all-time leading goal scorer, played one year with Gaudet there. They meet again Monday at Gillette.
Shay said the Yale coaches knew about Gaudet from the eighth grade, but he had committed to Syracuse early on. Gaudet didn’t think he had the grades for Yale, particularly in mathematics.
“I thought it was a real doubt,” Gaudet said. “Salisbury helped me get in line. Study hours, staff that really cares about you. I had neglected school initially. Salisbury changed my life.”
His coach from home, Marc Burton, called Gaudet. He asked him if he was happy with Syracuse.
“I said I guess, but I didn’t feel a lot of love from them,” Gaudet said. “Syracuse had been my dream school since I was a kid. I gave Coach Shay a call. I hadn’t thought I had the grades for Yale.”
Shay told him to work his tail off in the classroom.
“As his high school career went on he realized he was a pretty good student,” Shay said. “He realized Yale was an option. Then to get him late in the process was definitely a stroke of luck.”
So there was The Eli Undertaker crouching over on the field as the game ended Saturday. Was he deep in thought after his six goals? Was he overwhelmed with emotion about getting to the national championship?
“Nah, I was dehydrated,” Gaudet said. “I thought I was going to pass out. I’m good now.”
Yes, he is.