By: Alec Johnson, Athletic Communications Intern
During Mario Lavacca’s tenure at the State University of New York at New Paltz, he operated as an absolute athletic standout.
In 2003 he led the program to its first SUNYAC tournament berth since 1987 while contributing 14 goals and one assist. In 2003, Lavacca was the first New Paltz men’s soccer player to receive the SUNYAC Player of the Year award. Lavacca also appeared as a two-time National Soccer Coaches Association of America (NSCAA) All-Region selection and earned ALL-SUNYAC honors in each of his four seasons, including Honorable Mention praises in 2000, Second-Team recognition in 2001, and First-Team distinction in 2002 and 2003.
Lavacca, similar to a majority of New Paltz students, called Long Island home. He visited New Paltz on multiple occasions as a kid and always knew he would be comfortable in the Hudson Valley.
Lavacca managed to be a well-rounded student-athlete, finding pleasure in athletics, academics and his social life. However, if you asked him where he spent most of his time, that answer was easy: Elting Gym.
Lavacca strived to be the type of teammate that everyone desired: dominant and hard-working on the pitch and dedicated and inspirational in the locker room. Lavacca positioned himself as “very close with all the teammates” during his years at New Paltz.
“When I was there, you look at small stuff like preseason and practices, and sometimes you finish class and head down to the field and you’re thinking, ‘I can’t believe we have to practice today,’ but that time with the boys is such invaluable time,” Lavacca says. “Practice wasn’t fun 10 years ago, but I would do anything to be back there with all my boys. The day-to-day grind of being with the fellas, waking up early, traveling, just the relationships being built off of always being together.”
Lavacca helped guide the Hawks to the SUNYAC Tournament for the first time in more than a decade, and that stands out as his fondest memory despite all of his individual accolades.
“When we needed to win to get into the SUNYAC Tournament my senior year, we beat Cortland on Friday night and Oswego on Saturday and booked our ticket into the first conference tournament of my career,” Lavacca recalls.
Lavacca attributes his experience at New Paltz as the foundation for the rest of his life.
“New Paltz to me is a special place,” Lavacca says. “It definitely helped make me the person and the man I am today.”
Playing sports, especially soccer, impacted his life for the better. He took away many positive things from the New Paltz Athletics experience. He states, “One thing athletics has taught me is to always work hard and leave your mark.”
He also emphasized that “towards the end of my career, I really started to understand responsibility.”
Although Lavacca has been out of the game for a while, he still knows good soccer when he sees it. Lavacca predicted the 2014 World Cup semifinals to consist of games between Brazil and Germany as well as Spain and Argentina. Lavacca proved his knowledge of the game by getting three out of the four 2014 World Cup semifinalists correct.
Even though Lavacca is very far removed from the life he once lived at New Paltz, he comes back every year for the alumni game for two reasons: soccer and the relationships.
“Obviously, the soccer is great,” Lavacca says. “I love soccer, but it’s the relationships more than anything that keeps me coming back.”
Lavacca’s advice for future and current New Paltz student-athletes is simple: “Don’t waste any time. Live, love and enjoy every second of it, because you can never have this time back.”
Mario Lavacca will be inducted into the New Paltz Athletics Hall of Fame in fall of 2014. The New Paltz Athletics Hall of Fame was established in October 1982 as a means of recognizing alumni who competed as athletes at New Paltz or those who made a significant contribution to the athletic program at the College and who have distinguished themselves in their professions and their communities. New members have been inducted every few years, with the present number totaling 70 individuals and six teams.
