GRHS graduate Johnston selected to Irish National Lacrosse Team

Photo: Glen Ridge High 2011 graduate Pat Johnston participating in the Irish National Lacrosse Team tryouts in Dublin last October.

By Joe Ragozzino
Sports editor
For Pat Johnston, winning a state lacrosse championship last spring was truly memorable.
The 2011 Glen Ridge High School graduate will get to experience another thrilling moment this year as a member of the Irish National Lacrosse team.
Johnston, who has dual citizenship with Ireland, was selected to the team, which will compete in the European Lacrosse Championships in Amsterdam in late June.
A freshman at Centennary College in Hackettstown, Johnston traveled to Dublin, Ireland in late October to participate in the open tryouts, which drew under 100 players from around the world. The tryouts were open to anyone with Irish citizenship or dual citizenship with Ireland.
Indeed, Johnston was excited to find out he made the team.
“It’s great,” said Johnston, who also will play Division 3 lacrosse at Centennary. “To come off the momentum last year, winning the state championship, and to play at a higher level, it feels great.”
Along with Johnston, the team also features a few players from New Jersey.
Johnston particularly is close to his fraternal grandfather, who was born in Ireland and lives in New Jersey, and is thrilled to honor him by being a member of the National Irish team.  
“He has been a big part of my life,” Johnston said. “To pay it forward in his name is something spectacular.”
Johnston feels extremely grateful for the chance to represent Ireland.
“It’s an opportunity of a lifetime,” said Johnston, who also was a standout wrestler at GRHS, taking third as a senior at the District 13 tournament at the 189-pound weight class, which qualified him for the Region 4 tournament. “To go to Amsterdam and try something new is always good.
“Ireland is a rising lacrosse team. It is really growing over there. To represent them in a positive way and to really try to further their program is really the goal and to try to have a respectable showing in Amsterdam.”
Johnston was a starting defenseman for the GRHS lacrosse team that won the Essex County Tournament, state North Jersey Group 1 and state Group 1 championships before finishing with a stellar 15-4 record last season under head coach Carl Houser.
Johnston credits Houser and GRHS head wrestling coach Kendall Southerland in helping him in his development.
“Coach Houser really believed in me,” said Johnston, who is majoring in communications with a concentration in sports journalism. “My teammates too, we were such a great unit last year, and to build off that momentum and to use everything I learned from coach Houser. I learned a ton of lessons in wrestling about maturity and discipline. Just using that from coach Houser and coach Southerland is really helping me out.”