By EMILIE FENNELL, Contributor
The love of lacrosse led to the New Year’s Eve wedding of two Vandegrift head coaches. Luke Cometti and Alyssa Murray met as lacrosse standouts in college, they became head coaches in the Vandegrift lacrosse program, and then on December 31, the two celebrated their wedding in Syracuse.
Introduced to lacrosse as small children, both grew up with the sport in their hometowns, Luke in Syracuse and Alyssa on Long Island.
The lessons learned on the practice fields and in games, helped shape who they have become and the guidance they now offer to local youth.
“I began playing in kindergarten,” said Alyssa. “My sister had joined our town’s first ever youth program and my dad was asked to help out since he was one of the only people in town who had played college lacrosse.”
The Long Island team was for fourth- and fifth-graders but was always short-handed, so after some persistent begging on Alyssa’s part, they let her join.
Luke found the game as a first-grader and quickly fell in love with its fast pace. He knew he wanted to play college lacrosse from the time he was in second grade.
“We started going to the college lacrosse Final Four that year, which were some of the best times I’d had growing up. A bunch of my friends and their families would go and we would all stay in the same hotel, tailgate and go to the games together,” said Luke. “I remember always thinking how cool it would be to play in the Final Four when I was in college.”
Luke got his wish to play in the Final Four his senior year at Syracuse University.
For both, a strong foundation of skills as youth led to successful college careers.
Luke joined the team at Syracuse after transferring from Albany, receiving numerous accolades including Honorable USILA Mention All-American and Big East First Team. He led the team in goals his senior year.
Alyssa’s decorated playing career includes playing for the U.S. Women’s National Team and being selected as one of 19 players to represent the U.S. in the World Cup. She was named first-team all-American for three years and the Syracuse Female Athlete of the Year in 2014.
The two met at Syracuse. Luke had transferred there in 2011 as a redshirt junior and met Alyssa, a sophomore there at the time.
With standout skills and a love for the game, it was a natural progression to coaching for them.
Luke started coaching just after his senior year of high school with the Shove Park Youth Lacrosse Program where he had learned the sport from youth through high school under Hall of Fame coach Mike Messere.
Alyssa began coaching during her senior year of high school. She worked clinics for her club team, the Long Island Yellow Jackets, and coached the travel team in the summers with her dad and sister.
In September 2014, Luke was excited to make his way to Austin for the opportunity to take over Vandegrift lacrosse. This month he begins his sixth season as head coach of the Vipers.
Alyssa began her post-college coaching career assisting at the University of Michigan and Yale University. She came to Austin in 2016 and coached the women’s team at St. Stephen’s to state in 2017. This season kicks off her third year as the program director and head coach of the Lady Vipers.
Additionally, they are both co-directors of the boys and girls Austin Iron Horse Select Lacrosse Program.
Alyssa and Luke both credit the positive guidance from coaches growing up as contributing to their success.
“I decided to become a coach because I had so many influential coaches in my life that helped shape me into who I am today,” Alyssa said. “I love the idea that I could pay it forward to the players that I coach and hopefully provide them with a positive experience as a player and person as my coaches did for me.”
Luke noted that coach Messere would always paraphrase Winston Churchill. One of those teaching lessons he translates to: “You can’t always just show up, try your best and expect your desired outcome. You need to properly prepare, train and put in the time that is required for that desired outcome.”
They convey the positive lessons and strong work ethic they learned growing up to their players today. They share common themes in their guidance. Luke tells his players, “Just worry about controlling what you can control.”
Alyssa echoes that sentiment when coaching players. “Focus on the little things,” she said. “Usually when you start to focus on hustle plays, everything else naturally starts to fall into place.”
They are excited about the growing interest in lacrosse throughout the Austin area and beyond. The duo is not only kicking off the 2020 lacrosse season but a new chapter in their lives as a married couple.
