When Austin Tuttle was in fifth grade, a couple of his friends tried out for the West Coast Starz club team. They encouraged Tuttle to join them.
In line for drills, Tuttle – a Colorado native – was grouped with another attackman: Sawyer Bligh from California. The two had instant chemistry, made the team, and were put on the same attack line.
They developed a connection on the field, assisting goals with each other. They never wanted the party to end.
“It’s kind of been a conversation, like, let’s play in high school together,” Tuttle said. “Let’s play in college. It just kind of made sense to play with him. We knew, obviously, there was a chance it didn’t work out.”
Tuttle and Bligh traveled across the country to play high school lacrosse at Brunswick School together, where they met powerhouse lefty attackman Hunter Hanford (Darien, Conn.)
All three have starred for the Bruins since stepping onto campus as freshmen. They parlayed those impressive first two seasons into their respective college commitments. All three kept the pact Tuttle and Bligh made as fifth graders and committed to play at the University of Virginia together.
