ROBBINSVILLE — Brendan Coyle never cared about chasing stats. He just wanted to continue his family’s legacy and win as many games as he could with his friends on the Robbinsville boys lacrosse team.
But in doing so, the senior has become one of Mercer County’s best goalies.
Coyle recently eclipsed 600 career saves, and Thursday night he and the Robbinsville defense pitched their first shutout of the season as the sixth-seeded Ravens beat 11th-seeded Barnegat, 12-0, in the first round of the South Jersey Group II Tournament.
“I feel like it’s kind of just all mindset,” Coyle said after the game when describing his growth as a goalie. “That first year (in 2022 as a sophom*ore), kind of just getting under the ropes. I know the percentage wasn’t great that year. But really I feel like my clearing has gotten a lot better, and that’s really what it’s come down to. Especially today I felt like I was just really calm as soon as I made that save.”
Coyle had 11 saves Thursday to be exact, and Robbinsville’s ability to seamlessly clear the ball paved the way for the Ravens’ high-powered offense. Lukas Hutt led the team with four goals and became the first player in program history to total more than 100 goals and 100 assists for a career.
In terms of stopping shots, Coyle has raised his save percentage from 50.9 percent as a sophom*ore to 63.7 percent in each of the last two seasons.
What was he doing as a freshman? Learning from his older brother, of course.
Cam Coyle was Robbinsville’s starting goalie from 2018-21, meaning the Ravens have had a Coyle in net for six straight seasons, not counting the 2020 season canceled due to COVID-19.
“It’s always been a blast watching him, but I never really got to play with him until my freshman year,” Brendan said. “But I’ve always looked up to him. He’s my best friend. He’s an awesome guy, I love him. It’s a blast that he’s coaching here now.”
Brendan and Cam started playing lacrosse around the same time in first and third grade, respectively, after learning the sport from their father, who played at Columbia High. They both found a niche playing goalie as they ascended through the Robbinsville Lacrosse Association.
Cam had 579 saves in his three seasons including a dominant 67.5 save percentage as a senior, and after taking his brother under his wing that year, he knew the program was in excellent hands.
Last summer, Brendan committed to playing lacrosse at Ithaca College.
“I knew he was gonna be good,” Cam said. “I knew it working with him even before high school, and in that year, just seeing how he reacted and how he put his nose down, I knew he was gonna be good. And especially as he stepped up his sophom*ore year, I felt very good about how the net was gonna be held up.”
Cam played one year of college lacrosse at Yale before deciding to stop playing the sport, but he’s been giving back to Robbinsville this spring as an assistant coach.
John Demkovitz said it’s been invaluable to have someone as passionate and knowledgeable as Cam work specifically with the goalies. This season is particularly bittersweet for Demkovitz because he’s had a Coyle as a goalie for all six of his seasons as the head coach.
“Very special,” Demkovitz said. “I’m very grateful for the opportunity to have them on the team and be our goalkeepers, for sure. We have a very good pipeline of goalkeepers right now. Dan Savoca, who’s been the backup for Brendan for the last two years, is amazing as well. We joke about how we probably have the best two goalies around, and it might be true. We’ll see next year, but we’ve been very grateful to have the Coyle family in the Robbinsville lacrosse community, and we appreciate it. It makes our job look easy.”
Cam said he’s just happy to be part of his brother’s special run with the other 13 Robbinsville seniors who have posted a stellar 26-11 record over the last two seasons. They will play at third-seeded Holmdel in the sectional quarterfinals next week.
“They’re such a tight group, and Brendan, as a brother I can’t speak enough about just his work ethic and the amount of effort and intentionality he puts in every day, and I love him,” Cam said. “He’s my only brother, but I do mean it when I say he’s the best brother in the world. He picks you up on your down days, and I see it with these guys, too. So I’m very proud of him.”
Cam admits his brother has even surpassed him as a goalie in some ways.
“I feel like we’re definitely different,” Cam said. “I was definitely a guy who my body, I just kind of moved down to shots, got down on a knee, all that sort of stuff. Brendan is very loose, he stands tall, he gets his hands there, and I really believe he’s a better clearer than me. Looking at the film from when I was in high school and watching him and how he throws the ball, I’ve seen him, he’s much better in the clear than I was. Brendan and I played a little differently, but he figures out how to do it his way, and it’s cool to see him just keep working at his craft.”
Even though they didn’t get to play on the same team growing up until high school, Brendan said he always bounced ideas off Cam as he developed his own style.
Together, they have built quite the legacy of goalkeeping at Robbinsville for future classes.
“We’ve tried to grow this goalie community here in Robbinsville,” Brendan said. “I think if we keep on doing our best, it could really be something special.”
