January 5, 2010 E-MAIL PRINT

Matt Poskay, lacrosse star, cancer survivor

by Lenny Megliola/

Matt Poskay was the Cannons’ MVP and Offensive Player of the Year in 2008. (photo: Boston Cannons)

Matt Poskay was the Cannons’ MVP and Offensive Player of the Year in 2008. (photo: Boston Cannons)

Matt Poskay had an appointment with a urologist. His mother, Beverly, wanted to go with him. He insisted she stay home. I’ll be fine, Mom. I’ll let you know what he says.

Reluctantly, Beverly relented. Worrying about their kids runs deep in the DNA of mothers.

This Beverly did know. Matt had felt a lump on one of his testicles.

Her son was a dynamite lacrosse player at Arthur L. Johnson High School in Clark, N.J. He made All-American twice, All-State four times, and was named the state’s player of the year three times. Poskay broke the Garden State’s prep scoring mark, and eventually the national career record with 362 goals.

This was one healthy young man, always on the go, constantly playing sports. Might even blow off a doctor’s appointment because of practice or a game. But when he felt the lump down there, “I knew it was something I wanted to check out,” says Poskay, who went on to stardom at lacrosse powerhouse Virginia and is now a high-scoring midfielder for the Boston Cannons in the MLL.

The fateful day for Poskay came after a Cannons practice at Harvard Stadium last May when he drove to the urologist’s office.

“Thank God he did,” says Beverly.

Poskay was diagnosed with testicular cancer. “I had surgery right away,” he says. “It was like, ‘Let’s get this out of here.’ It was a good decision. It didn’t have time to spread.”

The diagnosis, says Beverly, was “a shock. It came out of nowhere.” Her concern was heightened because she’s a breast cancer survivor, going on 24 years now.

Poskay, 25, living out his dream as a professional lacrosse player, never allowed a ‘Why Me?’ thought to creep into his mind, after the diagnosis or during the radiation treatments. “He’s a very positive person,” says Beverly.

Six weeks after having the testicle removed, Poskay was back with he Cannons.

“First game back he scored four goals [against Chicago],” says Cannons coach Bill Daye. But they had to be careful that Poskay didn’t overextend on the field, after all he’d gone through. “We didn’t want to run him into the ground,” says Daye. Poskay understood a little less playing time was for the greater good. “He said he was 85 percent back,” says Daye. That was acceptable, everything considered.

“I knew it’d be a struggle to get back,” says Poskay. “I wasn’t going to be in shape, or back in my routine” for a while. Then again, he wasn’t exactly a slacker. He scored 15 goals and had three assists in the seven games he played. “I did the radiation treatments during the week and played for the Cannons on weekends.”

In 2008, Poskay scored 34 goals and garnered Cannons MVP and Offensive Player of the Year honors.

Poskay was a quick lacrosse study. He watched his brother Tim, four years older, play the sport. “I was 4 years old, and I just kinda picked up a stick,” says Poskay. “I fell in love with lacrosse immediately.”

In high school he played football, making All-State, and basketball, but by then lacrosse had a grip on the kid. “It kinda took over,” he says. Just like he took over the sport, smashing records at every turn. His style of play was evident. “I worked hard on delivering shots on the cage that go in, and I work hard off the ball.” It’s an ethic that still serves him — and the Cannons — well.

Poskay didn’t exactly sneak up on MLL eyes. His freshman year at Virginia, the senior-dominated Cavaliers won the national championship. Poskay remembers it this way. “I had to take a step back and think, ‘Did this really happen?’ I was at the right place at the right time.”

He had considered Cornell, Rutgers, Georgetown, and Maryland, but after he made his visit to the lush Charlottesville campus, it was all over. “I fell in love with Virginia right away.”

Poskay scored 29 goals during his junior season and helped the Cavaliers return to the title game. Virginia lost to Johns Hopkins, but won the national title the next year, beating UMass at Lincoln Financial Field in Philadelphia, home of the Eagles. Poskay, who scored 41 goals in his senior season, scored five times against the Minutemen.

Bill Daye drafted Poskay in 2006. “He lit it up in the national championship game. I was a little worried we wouldn’t get him. We didn’t have a first-round pick.”

Poskay lasted until the 12th selection. Daye pounced on it. “We’re looking for talented college players from February to May,” says Daye. Now he had a blue-chipper.

MLL players can’t negotiate a contract. Salaries are set by the league according to where a player is drafted and his performance in the MLL, which means Poskay is doing OK.

Despite missing five games in his rookie year (his college season hadn’t ended yet), Poskay “lit it up for us with 25 goals,” says Daye. “That led the team. We’d gotten the player we were looking for. Not a lot of players can come off a grueling college season and fit right in.”

And yet Poskay demands more of himself, and that starts next season. “I want to get back to scoring like I used to,” he says.

Lacrosse has become a year-round deal for Poskay. In the offseason he’s an assistant coach at Drew University.

“He’s a hard worker, and a smart player too,” says Daye. “He understands offensive and defensive schemes.  He puts himself in a good position to score.”

Daye met Poskay at the 2006 draft held at Sacred Heart University in Connecticut. “I got a good feeling about who he was after that,” says Daye. “He’s a great kid. I’ve gotten to know him the last four years. He’s a class guy. A funny guy. He’s confident and well liked.”

Things were happening at a pulsating pace for Poskay back in the spring of ’06. A day after Virginia won the title, he drove to the MLL draft.

“Then I had to be in California a couple of days later for my first professional game. I practiced with the team before the game,” he says.

It might have been a rush job, but he scored four goals. “That week was kinda surreal,” he says.

And so was the cancer scare. Poskay says “it really doesn’t register at first, when you hear the word ‘cancer.’ Then the second word you hear is ‘curable.’”

Then, the surgery. “It all happened so fast. That was a good thing, rather than waiting around. I didn’t have to think about it. I wanted to get back on the field.”

And so he has. The results have been electrifying. 

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