HUNTINGTON, NY — Like most boys from Long Island, NY, Stephen Doodian plays lacrosse. Over the last decade and a half, lacrosse has grown on Long Island tenfold and has given many of its youth the opportunity to play Division 1 in prestigious colleges across the United States.
Doodian is no exception to that. He has used lacrosse, and his schooling to be accepted into the Class of 2012 at Hobart and William Smith College in Upstate New York. 
“I just love playing lacrosse, it drives me in so many parts of my life and I am extremely lucky to have some talent in this beautiful game. Also, being a defenseman let’s me knock some guys around, which is always fun,” said Doodian, with a smile.
“Extremely lucky to have some talent” is being modest considering all the hard work that Doodian has put into his talent. From an early age of playing soccer, hockey, basketball and baseball, and excelling at all of them, Doodian decided to put all of his thoughts and effort into the game of lacrosse.
This decision hasn’t been an easy one for Doodian. “Because I am only 5’9,” which is on the shorter side for defensemen, I have had to work harder on my footwork, and speed since that is my advantage over guys who are 6’2” or 6’3.”
And harder he did work. Waking up early on weekends in the summer to work on game-like situations and his speed, staying after practice with coaches working on key fundamentals of the game, or just watching the game and learning how different players at higher levels performed, Doodian is a pure perfectionist. Nothing will make him happy unless it is done right.
For much of his early career, Doodian had been underrated because of his size, missing out on some elite travel teams in the Long Island area. But this never stopped his determination to play at that elite level, if anything it drove him more to work harder to reach his goal.
When it came to high school, it again seemed that Doodian would be short-changed because of his height. But that wasn’t the case. Luckily, he attended St. Anthony’s High School in South Huntington, NY, a school that offered three lacrosse teams at the freshman, junior varsity, and varsity level. This allowed Doodian time to grow, get stronger and become faster for the varsity level.
Starting on varsity his junior and senior year, Doodian began getting looks from some major D1 lacrosse schools including Duke, Hobart, Gettysburg, Loyola, and UPenn. His senior year, he led the St. Anthony’s team as Defensive Captain and was named to the “First Team All Catholic Team” on Long Island.
Unfortunately, this wasn’t enough for the D1 teams to take him seriously, as they were more concerned about his height than his skill. Most teams stopped talking to Doodian once they got commitment from their “taller” recruits, except for Hobart.
Hobart, really lacking a good core defenseman, offered Doodian acceptance if he agreed to do a post-graduate year at a good prep school. This again would give him time to grow and get stronger.
Doodian, now a post-graduate student at The Hotchkiss School in Lakeville, CT, is currently playing on the varsity lacrosse team at Hotchkiss on scholarship. Respectively, Doodian has started every game and is a strong defensive leader of the very talented Hotchkiss Bearcats team.
As promised, he received his official acceptance letter from Hobart this past January. He will attend this September and looks to make a strong argument to start as a freshman in the upcoming ’09 season.
BOSTON–Suffolk University’s Commuter Student Association hosted its 10th Commuter Connections week Oct. 20-25, 2008. The bi-annual event encourages Suffolk University’s commuter and resident students to get connected with a wide range of events, including AMC movie night, Cooking 101, and daily refreshments in the Donahue, Sawyer, and NESAD lobbies.