Forever Teammates Carroll, Lavelle Poised to Lead Penn

For as long as Emmet Carroll and Brendan Lavelle have played lacrosse, they have played together. Penn will have the fifth-year senior defensive stalwarts back for this spring, potentially their final games together.

“We've never been on a lacrosse team without each other,” Carroll said. “Club, Predators, Rye Youth Lacrosse, Rye High school and now Penn. Even the summer league teams that we play on.”

Carroll and Lavelle weren’t as sought out of Rye High School in New York as some others but enter their final season at Penn with a case for being the best at their positions, though the duo is too humble to say it. Lavelle was a first-team All-American on defense and Carroll was a second-team All-American goalie last year behind Liam Entenmann.

“It certainly panned out as well or better than we could have hoped,” Penn coach Mike Murphy said.

The two grew up together in Rye, the small city that sits in the long shadow of New York City only a couple miles from the Connecticut border. They were in kindergarten when their lives and athletic careers merged.

“Flag football with the Raiders,” Lavelle said.

Lavelle stayed with football and became an all-state player. Carroll was two-time captain of the Rye ice hockey team. But it was on the lacrosse field that the two made their biggest impact.

“They started out on the JV and we pulled them up for a couple practices over spring break to just kind of shake things up a little bit and give them a chance to practice with the varsity,” Rye lacrosse coach Steve Lennon said. “From that point forward they never went back down. They started immediately after that.”

By their junior year in 2019, they were part of a defense that allowed just two goals in the Section 1 Class C final to Byram Hills as Rye captured its first section title since 2008. The win came less than three weeks after Lavelle finally committed to Penn, more than seven months after Carroll had made his commitment to the Quakers.

“Mine was a lot slower. I knew Emmet was going to Penn and that definitely added a little value there because I wanted to play with him for another four years,” Lavelle said. “I was hoping that he would allow me to follow him.”

Carroll had visited Penn as a freshman — before the NCAA enacted legislation banning contact until Sept. 1 of junior year — and he was one of the first players Murphy reached out to Sept. 1, 2018. Carroll visited other schools, but it was Penn that seemed most invested in him, and he was quick to commit by the end of that month.

Penn liked Lavelle too, more so than a lot of schools.

“I remember multiple really respected defensive coordinators talking about, ‘I don't think he's explosive enough,’” Lennon said. “I always laugh at that word now. I know why they're looking for explosive guys, but then I'm thinking, this guy never gets beat. He’s matched up with Division I players in high school and he would just lock them down.”

The only holdup for Penn was finding a roster spot. When one opened, it enabled Carroll and Lavelle to combine forces again at Penn. 

“Even watching them play for the Predators one time, you could just hear their voices above everything else on the field,” Murphy said. “They were just such good communicators, especially for that age. That was honestly one of the things that stood out from an intangible standpoint. They were really good leaders on defense and communicators with each other, but also just in in terms of the whole defense. And they've maintained that now.”

“It's pretty obvious how close we are off the field,” Carroll said. “But even more so, I think our chemistry on the field is what sets us apart.”

Carroll and Lavelle would have been Rye’s first two-time high school All-Americans, but what they really wanted was a chance to defend their section crown for Rye. The 2020 season was canceled, however, due to the pandemic.

“We'll go back for Thanksgiving break and go get dinner with the guys that were on the team,” Carroll said. “We'll still talk about how good we thought we would have been. It’s a big what-if.”

The duo decided to live separately when they started at Penn to get to know others better, but the pandemic meant individual rooms for all Penn freshmen in 2020-2021. Carroll and Lavelle roomed together each of the next four years, sharing an apartment this year with fellow fifth-year attackman Cam Rubin.

“We've always kind of gravitated back to each other,” Lavelle said. “It's good to have your best friend behind you in cage and do whatever you can to help him out.”

“Brendan's really protective over Emmet,” Penn senior defenseman Ethan Till said. “I remember one time freshman year, one of our attackmen accidentally touched Emmet in a drill and Brendan right after that said, ‘If you ever do that again, I'll kill you.’”

The account elicits a laugh now when it’s retold. Carrol and Lavelle needed each other to lean on in their first year at Penn.

“Adam Goldner was a fifth-year when I was a freshman, and I think my first practice he probably scored like 20 goals on me,” Carroll said. “Brendan had a similar experience with guys dodging. And so I think maybe what helped the most was us just encouraging each other to keep going.”

They have done the same for others as experienced leaders now with the Quakers, who perennially play one of the toughest schedules in the nation. They went 9-6 last spring, falling to Princeton in the Ivy League championship game.

“These two have kind of been like older brothers to me over the years,” Till said. “They've taught me so much about lacrosse and just how to be a good person overall, kind of showing me the ropes in and out of the locker room and on the field, which has really helped me be a better player and a better person.”

Carroll and Lavelle have extended their leadership beyond the team. They were freshmen when they began volunteering with the Young Quakers, a program in which players coach and interact with Philadelphia’s inner-city children once or twice per week. Both became Big Quaker Captains, who organize the program with Penn’s Netter Center for Community Partnerships.

“A lot of guys love to do it,” Lavelle said. “It really kind of puts it all in perspective. Everyone's just so excited to help the kids learn lacrosse. And most of them haven't had the opportunity before, so we see the enjoyment grow as they're getting better. It's really a lot of fun.”

The Ivy League was the only conference in the country not to compete in 2021 due to the pandemic. Penn had one game against Cabrini. Lavelle started that game and had a pair of caused turnovers and four ground balls. Carroll played the final 2:27 and didn’t register a statistic.

“That was probably the most excited and energetic I've ever been and ever seen guys to play another lacrosse team,” Lavelle said. “I don't think the team and the guys will ever forget that. We worked so much that entire year. We were watching other teams have fun and do what we wanted to do — what we came to school to do.”

Lavelle was thrust into the starting lineup the next year and named honorable mention All-American. He credits Lennon and his Predators club coach Mike McCall for preparing him to step in immediately, and the Penn veterans for the rest.

“The guys on the team when I was a freshman really took me under their wing, like Piper Bond, Theo Lenz and BJ Farrare. They really took great care of me and showed me the ropes,” Lavelle said. “I tried to just follow their lead.”

Carroll had to wait for his chance behind Virginia transfer Patrick Burkinshaw. Burkinshaw kept telling Murphy how good Carroll was, but Carroll only played two games in 2022 before taking over the starting role in 2023 after Burkinshaw graduated. The two remain close.

“Being able to learn behind him was huge,” Carroll said. “Every freshman goalie is somewhat of a head case when they get to college. You get scored on way more in practice than you do in high school, and it's a little bit of a change-up in terms of your confidence. It let me develop as I needed to. If I had just played right away, I don't think I would be in the same position I'm in today.”

Carroll has made strides each season. His save percentage and saves have climbed while his goals against average has dropped each season. Last year he led the country with a .594 save percentage and 238 saves. That earned him an invitation to participated in a U.S. Men’s Sixes Team camp over the summer.

“He really stepped up and emerged as an elite goalie, and we felt like he could do that,” said Murphy. “It was pretty cool to watch him go from a backup to a good goalie to a great goalie over the course of three years.”

Lavelle already was on the radar as a two-time honorable mention All-American when four games into last year his reputation got a major boost. Matched up on Brennan O’Neill, Lavelle caused two turnovers and had six ground balls while holding the Tewaaraton Award winner to one goal in a 16-14 win at Duke.

“It didn't really prove that one player was good,” Lavelle said. “It proved that our whole defense was really good. And I don't think anyone thought of one person having a great game — maybe Emmet — but that was about it.”

Carroll, who made 17 saves in that win, wasn’t surprised by Lavelle’s deflection of praise.

“I've seen him do some crazy things on the lacrosse field that he downplays,” Carroll said. “But I'll say the same thing. I think you look back on that film and Brendan did an unbelievable job last year on a generational talent in Brennan O'Neill. But again, that just kind of proved what our defense could do and gave us confidence going into the rest of the year.”

Carroll takes the same approach. They haven’t changed in that manner since high school, when Lennon felt they were his best “humble servant leaders.”

“Brendan will come back for a winter workout, and it's like he's a JV player on the team trying to prove himself to the coach,” Lennon said. “He's a legend in Rye for us, and he still acts that way. He'll drop a pass and be doing 10 pushups because he dropped it in like a regular summer workout.”

Carroll and Lavelle spent the summer into this fall working out in Rye and golfing. Both had internships in New York City. Carroll, who already has a job with a bank lined up, and Lavelle both want to work in finance.

They have been stuck on the sidelines together this fall for Penn’s workouts since moving back to campus at the start of November. Both will finish their final requirements for graduation with classes this spring but are on a gap semester. Ivy League rules prevent graduate students from playing, and the two can’t participate in official team activities because they aren’t taking classes this fall. Both had the option to transfer but didn’t want to leave their Penn teammates or each other.

“We're just trying to stay busy, working out, playing lacrosse whenever we can, just not with the team,” Lavelle said. “You watch film, hang out with the guys and get to know the freshmen as much as possible. That's definitely helpful, to have as much time as we can to just be around everyone to get closer with the guys on the team because we've missed some time here.”

“You want to jump on the field and actually put your gear on,” Carroll said. “But I think it'll make us even happier to come back when we can play in January.”

They are anxious to finish on a high note. Last year ultimately didn’t end the way that Penn hoped. They lost three of their final six in the regular season, and after upsetting No. 1 seed Cornell in the Ivy League tournament, they fell to Princeton in the final and were left out of the NCAA tournament.

“Those are pretty gut-wrenching moments,” Carroll said. “I loved that group. It's good motivation to come back even stronger this year.”

Carroll and Lavelle give Penn a good starting point. They are looking to lead the Quakers to their first NCAA tournament since 2022 in what could be their final season playing together.

Unless a Premier Lacrosse League team decides they’re a package deal.

“That would be awesome if we ended up getting the opportunity to play with the best players in the world,” Carroll said. “But for now we're with our best friends in the world here at Penn. We have another year to do something we love at the university we love. All our focus is here right now.”