Hornets' Quattro becomes Aiken County's first lacrosse signee
Feb. 28—Aiken High's Isaac Quattro hadn't even picked up a lacrosse stick 14 months ago.
Quattro was aware of the game and always thought it looked cool, sure, but as the starting goalkeeper of the Hornets' soccer team he was set on sticking with that sport rather than picking up a new one.
Then coach Matt Alquiza convinced him to give it a shot, anyway. Turn the calendar forward a little more than a year, and Quattro has made history. Monday he signed to play lacrosse at Bridgewater College, making him the first player from an Aiken County school to do so.
"I mean, it feels great. I picked up a stick for the first time New Year's Eve of last year," Quattro said. "To go from that to getting my first offer over the summer, and then really starting to pick it up and get a few more and then find a place to stay for the next four years is really, really cool, and it's really exciting."
Bridgewater College, located in its namesake town in Virginia, was the pick for a variety of reasons. Quattro said he liked meeting the coaches and was made to feel at home when he visited, plus he was impressed by the facilities and overall culture of the school. Add in that Bridgewater has his chosen major (engineering) while also offering lacrosse, and it was a perfect combination.
Alquiza knew Quattro from his involvement with Aiken High's soccer program, and he saw Quattro's work ethic, athletic ability and willingness to accept coaching. He had confidence that Quattro could pick up the game, and then the progression was rapid.
"Lacrosse is a pretty intricate game with learning stick skills and learning all the deeper levels of the sport, but if you're a decent athlete and you can pick up a stick pretty quickly you'll be good fast," Alquiza said. "Isaac had that. He had everything he needed early on to become a decent lacrosse player, and credit to him for the rest of that growth."
"He told me that I could do it," added Quattro, one of the school's Heisman High School Scholarship winners. "He said, 'If you score this amount of goals, do you think you'll go to college?' At that time, it was like, 'No, man, I'm playing soccer. This is what I want to do.' Six months later, I'm getting college offers and trying to play. A year ago today, I never would've thought that I'd be here right now. That's part of the reason it's so cool."
A big reason to join Aiken High's new program was Quattro's love for the culture at Aiken High, and he wanted to be a part of the group to help build something new. That group made history by being the first Hornets to play lacrosse, and now Quattro will be the first to continue doing so for a college program.
"It means a lot. I just hope that, with the basis we've started building here, that more guys can sign and we can get a second and a third and really start putting our area on the map for lacrosse," he said. "We're pretty far from the traditional areas that produce most of the college guys, so to be one of the first guys from this area and start to put this area on the map is super, super cool."
Quattro said in college he'll be a short stick defensive midfielder, and he's hoping to see action on both ends of the field. He said he likes he to work hard, play fast and score some goals here and there.
Last season was primarily spent learning what lacrosse is all about, while all of his teammates were doing the same. He joined a travel team over the summer and found out that wasn't just an Aiken High thing, but so many others in the Aiken-Augusta area were getting into it, too.
"The friendliness and the want for the sport to grow in the area, all around here, was incredible," he said. "Everybody became such close friends. It's really, really cool to be a part of something so new down here."
Alquiza said Monday's signing shows the potential Aiken High has on campus to continue growing the program. The younger players who haven't been playing as long see that it's an attainable goal, and others on campus and in the community can be inspired to also pick up the game. Quattro is a testament that it can be done at Aiken High, and Alquiza sees no reason both he and the program can't keep progressing.
"I've seen the way he's improved in the high school game in just a year," Alquiza said. "Now he's going to go to college where he'll get full-time coaching, get a full-time meal plan, full-time athletic and strength training. The sky's the limit for his potential. I've seen the way he's grown in the past 12 months. I can't imagine what it's going to look like another year from now when he has a full training regimen with college-level coaches."
