While the Georgetown men’s lacrosse team practices at the ulti-Sport Facility to get ready for the rest of its season, three Hoya alumni are working full-time jobs in preparation for the upcoming Major League Lacrosse season.
Andrew Corno (MSB ’05), Walid Hajj (COL ’04) and Scott Urick (COL ’99) have all successfully made the transition from starring at Georgetown to playing professional lacrosse with the New Jersey Pride.
Corno is a groundball and faceoff specialist who rarely scores, while Hajj and Urick are the quick, slashing scorers that make the LL – the United States’ professional lacrosse league founded in 2001 – and its high-scoring games exciting.
Although the league has quickly expanded from east to west, with teams from Baltimore to Los Angeles, it remains devoid of the million dollar salaries – and resulting fat heads – endemic in American sports. The average salary in the MLL is $18,000 annually.
For Corno, Hajj and Urick, the MLL experience is about outside careers, inevitably low profiles, and an unsatisfying 6-10 record for the New Jersey Pride.
“The last thing you want to be doing after four years is committing yourself for a summer and not winning week in and week out,” Corno says. “But once the whistle blows you can’t do anything but play your heart out.”
Late Nights and Love of the Game
Andy Corno finished his 2004 season at the top of the league, leading the nation in face-off percentage (.689) and setting Georgetown records with 105 groundballs and 186 face-off wins in a single season.
One week after the Georgetown season came to a close with a heartbreaking loss against Maryland on May 23, Corno was drafted by the Pride. Though New Jersey is hardly an exotic locale, Corno experienced some culture shock. Despite having spoken with Urick, who had already made the jump to professional play, “I had no idea what I was getting myself into,” Corno says.
“On our college team there was like 45 guys. Coach [David] Urick played 25 to 30 guys,” Corno says. “In the professional game 18 suit up for a game and with the backup goalie there are seven subs. You’re forced to play both ways: on defense, up and down the field. In a 30-goal game, I never come off the field [as a face-off specialist].”
Corno was also surprised by the league’s intensity. Thirty-goal games are the norm at the professional level, where a shot clock and two-point arc deliver a goal- and fan-friendly evolution of the slower, less run-and-gun college contest, where for instance the latest Georgetown score was just 9-5.
Without the parity and lower-level players found in Major League Baseball or even the National Basketball Association – no Darko Milicic, no Kaz Matsui – Corno felt unprepared for the professional level, despite a distinguished collegiate resume.
“Even though the league hasn’t been around that long . the talent in the league is unbelievable,” he says. “It is a huge jump above college. . These guys are bigger, faster and stronger at the next level. I was lucky to come out of college in good shape despite the injuries I had.”
Not that Corno is exactly struggling.
“It’s great to have Andy as a teammate again and as our face-off guy for the simple fact that when he is out there, our team is always at an advantage and the odds on favorite to gain possession,” says Hajj, his teammate.
To make ends meet, Corno operates his own restaurant, year-round, near the District, and commutes by train or car to New Jersey two or three times a week to train and play for the Pride. He is more than ready to keep balancing his athletic and business responsibilities.
“Right now I am very committed to my business; [the MLL] is a side job for me, something I enjoy doing,” he says. “I intend on playing as long as I can, as long as my body holds up. And in the future, if I can make a full-time living playing lacrosse, I would do that. But right now, it’s impossible to.”
Steady Performer
Like Corno, Hajj has spent his professional career with the New Jersey Pride and commutes from his home in Baltimore to New Jersey during the season.
Hajj has found unconventional methods of keeping in shape during the offseason.
“I try and get to the gym to work out, play basketball and run three to four times a week,” he says. “There is very little lacrosse played in my offseason, which puts me at a great disadvantage compared to the people who are around lacrosse for their careers.”
Despite the disadvantage, Hajj had the fifth-highest point total on the team last year, with 11 goals and seven assists.
Furthermore, his quiet, steady performances with the Pride and locker-room behavior have played an important role in maturing what was a very young and inexperienced New Jersey Pride team.
Hajj’s relationship with Corno, which has only grown since they both joined the MLL, was a contributing factor in Corno’s decision to venture into the precarious world of professional sports.
“Whether it was in college or last year [with the Pride], having Andy on the team certainly generates a huge advantage for us as long as he gives me the ball as soon as he wins the face-off,” Hajj says.
Hajj credits Urick, the eldest of the trio, for showing him how to maintain the fitness of a professional athlete during his time at Georgetown and with the Pride.
“He brought that intensity as my coach every practice and game,” he says. “But to actually be his teammate and see him out there doing it for our team certainly inspires me and the rest of us to try that much harder. I can personally say I feed off his intensity and hard work. . No one outworks Scott.”
One of the Game’s Best
The hard worker has undoubtedly had one of the more interesting rides of any Georgetown lacrosse alum.
Currently an assistant coach for Georgetown lacrosse with his father, Head Coach David Urick, Scott Urick is one of the few active players left from the original MLL draft of 2001, spending the last seven years of his life immersed in the game of lacrosse – teaching, playing and continuing the tradition of the game he loves.
“Up at the pro level, the game is unbelievably enjoyable,” he says. “There are the best players in the world that are playing. I love playing still. I’ve had a passion for the game as long as I can remember.”
Urick, however, is quick to point out that he, Corno and Hajj “would rather suit up as a Hoya still.”
Urick says he has made it a point to teach his current Hoyas that victory isn’t everything.
“Winning games is important but that’s not the most important thing,” he says. “There’s learning to be done beyond a playing field and there’s a rapport you have with your kids, trying to teach them other things is equally important.”
Those “other things” have made him an advisor to Hajj and Corno, affecting their decisions to go pro. It was Urick who made their transitions to the Pride easier, although he would never admit to playing favorites.
“I had no trouble hazing Andy in the beginning,” Urick quips.
Urick’s relationship with his fellow Hoyas is inextricably tied to their long commutes from the D.C. area to New Jersey, not always without difficulties.
“I got knocked out once last year; Walid had to drive my car home,” Urick says. “The doctor wouldn’t let me drive. And I don’t think I would have if he let me.”
The loose atmosphere and friendly relationship Urick has kept with his friends is a major factor in keeping the Pride locker room together. In a league with a short season and an even shorter work week, finding time to bond is difficult.
At the same time, in a fledgling professional league like the LL, it’s a near necessity.