Male Athlete of the Month: Evan Leili

Name: Evan Leili

Sport: Boys Lacrosse

Grade: 12th

Position: Midi

Recent performance and team results:

NJSIAA Tournament, First Round, North Jersey, Group 2 Loss vs West Milford 7-8

Evan Leili scored 2 goals and had 2 assists to lead the team in points in their season finale. 

At the start of this lacrosse season, Evan Leili was expected to lead the team as 19 of the 24 varsity players graduated last year. Leili met that expectation and led the team in both goals and assists. 

“When he played well, the team played well,” Coach Matthew Will said. “He was incredibly valuable all year.” 

Leili organized practices in the offseason to get the team prepared for the season.

“All fall and winter he was making sure that the guys were playing, and he was organizing captain’s practices,” Will said. 

Leili is close with his teammates, and they have helped him be a better player by boosting his confidence. 

“We’re all solid lacrosse players, so it’s not like we have one weak link where the team falls apart, and we’re blaming each other,” Leili said. “Everyone holds themselves accountable, and it’s a really good environment.”

Throughout his time playing at PV, Leili has not only bonded with his teammates but formed good relationships with his coaches, making the games and practices fun and enjoyable. 

“The two or three assistant coaches all focus on offense,” Leili said. “I work more closely with them [than Will]. The assistant coaches can be like the teammates, but then they also know what they’re talking about more than anyone on the field. It’s good to listen to them, and when they tell us what to do it works.”

Leili takes the sport seriously and works hard to succeed, but only started playing in third grade because he didn’t like how slow baseball was.

“I didn’t like baseball at all,” Leili said. “My friends played lacrosse too and then I really kind of rolled with it. After fifth grade, I quit baseball and just played lacrosse.”

Leili said he enjoyed the speed of lacrosse and how it was a mix of basketball and football, two sports he used to play. As he continued to play, he quit those other sports to focus on lacrosse. 

This proved to be successful as Will said Leili was the best player in the program this year.

“[Leili took] control of the team, especially on the offensive end,” Will said. “He had almost 20 points more than anybody else on the team. He met all of the expectations that we had, and I’m very proud of the senior year that he had.” 

Leili also led the team outside of practice and organized a cleanup for them to participate in.

“Evan got the 30 guys in the program together, and they went and spent a couple of hours cleaning up at a park,” Will said. “He took that upon himself and did that on his own because he had a passion for that.”

Leili said he wants to continue playing lacrosse at a club level next year. He will be attending the University of South Carolina in the fall.

“South Carolina doesn’t have a Division I team,” Leili said. “It’s the club level, so I’m going to try out. I don’t want to stop [playing yet].”