The Marist men’s lacrosse team was headed to Eddie Coombs’ funeral and incoming freshman Dave Scarcello called head coach Keegan Wilkinson because he wanted to reserve a seat on the team bus.

Coombs, a midfielder for the Red Foxes, had just died in a car accident in the summer of 2011 as a rising sophomore and Scarcello wanted to help his future teammates cope.

When Eric Coombs, Eddie’s father, and Wilkinson were deciding who to award Coombs’ No. 34 to this season, Eric Coombs remembered his son’s funeral. He remembered that Scarcello attended before he was even on the team.

Prior to this season, players and coaches gathered in an auditorium-like classroom and Eric Coombs announced that Scarcello, now a senior, would wear No. 34.

Scarcello teared up, hugged Eric Coombs and was surrounded by teammates chanting “Coombs!”

“I definitely get a lot of texts from alumni all the time saying that they’re proud of me,” Scarcello said. “My friends on campus also know the significance of it. So it’s just great to see that we’re continuing to build the legacy even after Coombs’ class graduated.”

Scarcello has lived up to his number. The goalkeeper ranks fourth in Division I with a save percentage of 58.7 and fifth in the country with a 7.79 goals-against average. Scarcello held Bryant to just six goals on Wednesday night in an NCAA tournament play-in game to help push the Red Foxes (14-3, 6-0 Metro Atlantic) to the first round, where they will play No. 2 seed Syracuse (12-2, 2-2 Atlantic Coast) on Sunday night at 7:30 p.m. in the Carrier Dome.

Coombs’ No. 34 stayed on Marist’s roster for the past three seasons and coaches awarded the it to the most deserving player each week. But after Coombs’ class graduated in 2014, Eric Coombs and Wilkinson decided the number should go to one player for the whole season.

“Just the way he’s handled it this year, wearing that number,” Wilkinson said. “There’s an awful lot of pressure. There’s a lot of people looking at him and he’s been incredibly resilient and handling it with complete class.”

After saving just half the shots he saw and allowing four more goals a game in 2014, Scarcello has stepped up in big games this year, Wilkinson said. Against High Point, an NCAA tournament team, Scarcello allowed just nine goals and made a career-high 19 saves.

Then-teammate and current assistant coach Ethan Fox said Coombs was a vocal leader even as just a freshman and sees similarities between Coombs and Scarcello.

“Every day he always comes ready to work,” Fox said. “He makes sure everyone else is ready to work.”

To remember Coombs, Marist has a flag in its locker room with the No. 34 on it and underneath, it says “Play fast, live slow.” Every Marist jersey has a patch near the left shoulder that says “EC.” In the Red Foxes’ locker room, Coombs’ locker remains behind a Plexiglas wall.

But Marist also remembers Coombs tangibly. When practice becomes a struggle, coaches make players do 34 reps of an exercise — 34 pushups, 34 sit-ups, 34 sprints, 34 hills.

“We’ve been doing that since I got here,” Scarcello said. “When that number is placed on a workout or an exercise, everyone is working as hard as they can because they know the significance of it.”

Scarcello said the thing he knows about Coombs is that he got every ground ball and won every sprint. The best way to recognize him, Scarcello said, is by trying to play the same way.

And while Scarcello recognizes wearing No. 34 is an honor, he realizes its a privilege he has to play for every chance he gets.

“There’s a lot of deserving guys on the team,” Scarcello said of No. 34, “so I’m just doing it as if I’m still trying to earn that jersey every day.”

Published on May 10, 2015 at 11:04 am

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