Class of 2020
The Class of 2020 has experienced unprecedented success throughout their careers. Joining the program four years ago, this group of nine seniors have played a role in a National Championship (2018), a NESCAC Championship (2017), two NCAA Final Four appearances (2018, ’17), and two outright Little Three titles (2018, ’17). This season, they went 3-1 with wins over Bates (13-8), Coast Guard (17-7), and Connecticut College (11-9) before the 2020 campaign was cut short due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Throughout the course of their careers, this class has compiled an incredible 55-10 (.846) overall record and 27-4 (.871) NESCAC mark. Let's take a look at these seniors.
Otto Bohan
Otto is a captain and goalkeeper from Westlake, Ohio. In the fourth game of the 2018 season, Bohan earned the starting nod and excelled ever since, as he helped guide the Cardinals to a National Championship as a sophomore. He was named an All-American Honorable Mention that year and followed up with a Third Team All-American honor as a junior. Heading into the 2020 season, Otto was tabbed a Second Team Preseason All-American by the USILA and was just one of two goalies in Division III to earn the preseason praise. Last summer, Otto completed an internship in Global Brokerage Sales at Arthur J. Gallagher & Co., and he has played an active role in the program’s partnership with Team IMPACT. Otto will conclude his career with an 8.82 goals-against average, 56.3 save percentage, and a 33-7 (0.825) overall record.
“Otto came into Wesleyan and took the starting goalie job a few games into his sophomore year, which ended with him starting in the National Championship game. Not an easy task for Otto to come to Wesleyan and replace a 2-year starter and First Team All-American Ted Bergman ’17, but Otto made his name known in D3 lacrosse as one of the top goalies in the country over the past few years. Often coming up with either a big save off of a one-on-one, or multiple saves in a single offensive possession, he truly excelled as a pure shot-stopper. We certainly will miss our senior captain in the cage.” | Associate Head Coach Will Pilat
Tom Clejan
Tom is a captain and defender from Manhasset, N.Y. A consistent starter for most of his career, Tom has played in 56 total games while racking up 94 ground balls and causing 41 turnovers. He also excelled in the classroom and was named to the Dean’s List (2017), the NESCAC All-Academic Team (2018), and was named a Scholar Athlete last year. Tom studied abroad in Paris in the fall of 2018 and was a member of several clubs at Wesleyan – Consulting Pathways, Wesleyan Investment Group, and the Computer Science Club. He has also completed several internships as a New York Life Investment Consulting Intern, a Pfizer Customer Analytics Intern, and a Far Hills Group Winter Intern.
"A senior captain, Tom Clejan has had a great career as a defender in our league. A versatile player who saw time as both an LSM, as well as playing close defense, Tom excelled as one of our most athletic defenders able to match up on speed and strength. Scooping up 94 groundballs is a key statistic, and that is where Tom was great for our team, playing wings on face-offs, pushing transition, getting the ball out of our defensive end. All of these facets of his game being positive, he was just as positive of a teammate and we certainly will miss him.” | Associate Head Coach Will Pilat
Griffin Gustafsson
Griffin is a midfielder from Carmel, California. He was very active on campus and was a member of the Wesleyan Magic Club, the Consulting Pathways Club, and was on the Senior Class Gift Committee while also participating in the Stuff a Cruiser Holiday Toy Drive. Griffin completed an internship at Verisk Financial and was named to the Omicron Delta Epsilon Honor Society of Economics. He was also a member of the Swedish National Lacrosse Team.
“Griff saw some playing time over his four years, including a couple of games in 2019 as a member of our second midline at the time. Unfortunately, Griffin has gone through some trying times that not many athletes have gone through including multiple knee injuries (torn ACL, meniscus). None of the setbacks that Griff had with these injuries took away from his positive attitude around our team, coaches, and teammates. Always a smile on his face whenever he was at practice, Griff was so glad to be on the field around his friends every day and we were just as happy to have him around.” | Associate Head Coach Will Pilat
Colin Malarchuk
Colin is a captain and defender from Briarcliff Manor, N.Y. An anchor on the defensive end, Colin made an immediate impact on the program and played in 57 games while starting 48. As a junior, he was named an All-American Honorable Mention and a Second Team All-NESCAC selection. For his career, he has 147 ground balls and 90 caused turnovers, including a conference-high 41 a year ago. Off the field, Colin joined the Wesleyan Magic Club and is a Computer Science major with a minor in Data Analysis. He completed internships at the NYU Langone Orthopedic Hospital, Medtel.com, and SportsRecruits. Colin also studied abroad at Queen Mary University in London.
“One of the top defenders in the NESCAC and the country over the past few seasons, Colin Malarchuk was an imposing force on the field regardless of who he was matched up against. Often putting the ball down on the ground from the team’s top attackmen that he was guarding. A USILA All-American in his junior year, Colin solidified a spot on our backline and started 48 of his 57 games he appeared in while racking up 90 caused turnovers and 147 groundballs. We certainly will miss Colin on the field but also off the field as he was always such a positive member of Wesleyan Men’s Lacrosse." | Associate Head Coach Will Pilat
Tom Martello
Tom is an attackman from Rockville Centre, N.Y. He was enjoying a breakout senior season in which he concluded the year ranked second in the NESCAC in goals (15) and led the team in both goals and points (19). Tom is Head of the Team IMPACT Leadership Committee and interned at the New York Life Insurance Company.
"Tom Martello is one of the hardest-working players on our team, and it showed as he is one of our best shooters breaking through with some big goals dating back to his freshman year with a goal in the NESCAC Championship game and the NCAA quarterfinals. Tom was voted captain this year by his teammates, as they followed his lead to show up early to practice and stay late for extra work. A man-up staple for the last two seasons, Tom made his presence known as a wing shooter but evolved his game to attack for himself this year and was leading our team in points when the season concluded. We will miss Marty’s work ethic and love of lacrosse.” | Associate Head Coach Will Pilat
Mitchell Patton
Mitchell is a defender from Branford, Conn. At 6-5, Mitchell is a presence defensively for the Cardinals and played in 35 career games. He also excels academically and was named to the NESCAC All-Academic Team both years of eligibility while maintaining a 3.94 GPA or higher. He studied abroad in Budapest, Hungary during the fall of his junior year and completed internships as a Software Developer at DocuWare Corporation and as a Systems Intern at Brown Brothers Harriman. Mitchell also volunteered at Macdonough Elementary School and was a member of the Wesleyan Magic Club.
“Mitch began his senior year as a starter and had some tremendous games in the short season of 2020 after finding his way on the field as mainly a man-down specialist in 2018 and 2019 mixing in as our fourth defenseman. One of the hardest working players on our team in terms of his conditioning and athleticism, Mitch always led the way for our team in putting in work outside of the lacrosse field. An intimidating force on the field, Mitch always brought a great effort to any practice or game and we thank him for his efforts with our team in his time at Wesleyan.” | Associate Head Coach Will Pilat
Hunter Reynolds
Hunter is a defender from Farmington, Conn. He is a member of the Road to Finance Leader club and studied abroad at the London School of Economics and the Imperial College Business School. Hunter also interned at Morgan Stanley in Acquisition Finance.
"Hunter is a great example of a team-first player. Rarely missing a practice, he always would come to work and better our team, as well as working on improving his own game. Often asking the coaches and players around him what he could be doing to help or get better, this attitude was infectious to all those who got to be around Hunter. Constantly supporting our team members in a positive way has gone a long way in who he is as a teammate, let alone his abilities as a defender on our team.” | Associate Head Coach Will Pilat
Owen Ward
Owen is a midfielder from Ipswich, Mass. Owen volunteered at the Macdonough School, was head of the Road to Finance club, and was also a member of the Wesleyan Magic Club. He has excelled academically, earning NESCAC All-Academic laurels and was head of Omicron Delta Epsilon (Economics Honors Society). Owen was also a member of Delta Kappa Epsilon and was an Investment Banking Summer Analyst at the Jefferies Group.
"Owen was certainly coming into his own finding success on the defensive end of the field as a D-mid for our team beginning at the end of 2019 and moving into 2020. Owen began his career on the offensive end as a midfielder, and took time to learn our defensive schemes and switch ends of the field where he ultimately was finding great success this year as a tough player also capable of pushing transition and getting groundballs off of the wing. We will miss Owen’s love of lacrosse and his teammates.” | Associate Head Coach Will Pilat
Zach Zavalick
Zach is a faceoff specialist from Glastonbury, Conn. He is another senior that made an immediate impact on the program since joining as a freshman in 2017. He has played in 64 games with 338 career ground balls while winning 592 faceoffs. Zach is also very involved on campus, in which he organized a community toy drive with the Student-Athlete Advisory Committee (SAAC), the Middletown Fire Department and Middletown Community, and volunteered with recess at Macdonough School. He is the Vice President of SAAC, a member of the Magic Club, and is on the Title IX Leadership Council. Zach is also a two-time NESCAC All-Academic Team honoree, a Teacher’s Apprentice in the Psychology Department, and a Community Advisor in Residential Life.
“Zach is a warrior. The greatest person you will meet off the lacrosse field, and once a game starts he flips a switch and becomes relentless in the aspect of hunting down a loose ball off of a face-off. Zach was a 4-year face-off man for Wesleyan, racking up 338 groundballs in his time as a Cardinal, he always gave it his all every day on the field. Often challenged against some of the top face-off men in the country in our league, he never backed down and made every game a dog-fight to give our team a chance to win the ball, even creating some offense on his own as he was always a threat to the goal. We will miss how hard Zach works.” | Associate Head Coach Will Pilat