Mission-Driven Players – and Coach – Make History in Boys’ Lacrosse

“We came to a collective agreement that each and every day we had to establish a Mission First mindset and make a conscious commitment to completing those missions each day,” Coach Gaeger says. “In turn, this would give us the best opportunity to achieve our ultimate mission of winning a state championship. 

“But the most important aspect of all,” he adds, “was trying to achieve all these goals while constantly caring for one another and being Lions Always.”

Suffice it to say his players committed themselves to both aspects of the mission. The result was a history-making season for boys’ lacrosse. They not only were the first to make it to the IHSA state title game, but they also eliminated Loyola in the semi-finals, ending a 21-year streak of either Loyola or New Trier playing for the championship, in both the IHSA and IHSLA.

In reflecting on the team’s strength on the field, Coach Gaeger pointed to their resiliency, how they never let the great moments get them too high and the negative moments get them low. 

“They just truly believed in their commitment to each other and the collective missions,” he says. “We obviously had some incredibly talented players who set individual and program records, but you never got the sense that anyone was playing for those accolades.”

Ironically, Coach Gaeger himself never picked up a lacrosse stick before his freshman year at Saint Viator. He went on to play for Head Coach Bill Sanford and Assistant Coach Jim Magee before playing at Adrian College in Michigan.

“We were a ragtag group of guys who were all new to the game, but they never let us see or believe that,” Coach Gaeger says. “They made us feel we could compete with anyone if we committed to hard work and genuine love for one another.”

Coach Gaeger continues to credit Coach Sanford with instilling a love of the game in him, but also with establishing the lacrosse culture at Saint Viator.

“He was such a passionate, vibrant, and caring person so players quickly gravitated towards him,” Coach Gaeger says. “Almost all of Coach Sanfords former players will tell you that no one cared more about their success in life than he did. It was so much bigger than lacrosse with him.”

Since taking over the program in 2018, Coach Gaeger has tried to adopt that mindset while putting his own imprint on the program.

“There were so many people in the community that shaped me into the man I am today, and I simply want to be a mentor for these young men,” he says. “I simply want our boys and their families to look back on their time at Saint Viator and know that this was the place that inspired them to be the best version of themselves.”