How Christian Tomei Learned to Love Lacrosse Again

The life and times of a lacrosse goaltender are not always full of joy. Often, the position is measured by a stark reality. You either save the ball, or you let in a goal.

It’s a solitary position on a field full of team-based play; an arduous existence punctuated by spots of success.

For current Belmont Abbey goalie Christian Tomei, the journey to becoming a starting netminder is an enduring reminder of all the good and bad things that come with being a goalie.

It started nearly 10 years ago when he committed to play for Ohio State as a 14-year-old — before he even attended a high school practice. (This was before the current recruiting regulations were implemented.) Tomei grew up in Ohio but moved to Jupiter, Fla., for high school, where he starred as a goalie for Oxbridge Academy.

He was named Mr. Florida Lacrosse and was a first-team all-state and all-region goalie in 2019. But by his own admission, life off the lacrosse field wasn’t the easiest. He posted on X (formerly Twitter) in May 2023 that in high school, his teachers told him he wouldn’t make it three months in college.

Tomei went to Ohio State but found a harsh reality waiting for him. Despite being an All-American caliber goalie, he struggled to fit into the squad’s plans.

“I think it honestly took a huge toll on me as just a lacrosse player and playing lacrosse and kind of like losing some love for it. So, I ended up redshirting in my freshman year at Ohio State, but it was also the COVID year,” Tomei said. “At the end of my freshman year at Ohio State, I just knew I didn’t want to be there anymore. I was just losing love for the sport, but I decided to give it one more shot and I entered the transfer portal.”

John Galloway reached out. The former goalie could spot an up-and-coming one from a mile away. But Jacksonville turned out to be more of a Hail Mary than Tomei anticipated.

He only lasted one semester before deciding to hang up his helmet for good. He went from stopping shots to parking cars with “no goals.”

“I was completely burned out by the end of it, and I ended up quitting lacrosse as a whole,” Tomei said. I just never wanted anything to do with it. I just left the sport where it was. I didn’t even read anything about lacrosse, just stayed away completely for about six months, and then some random goalie video came up on my phone. I just instantly fell back in love with it. I met my girlfriend, and she really pushed me to play again. I was like, ‘You know what? I’ll give it one more shot.’”

A large and physical netminder who modeled his game after Notre Dame great Scotty Rodgers, Tomei is a physical marvel. Through intense weight training, his body has changed over the years.

At 6-4, he fluctuated from 160 pounds as a high school freshman up to nearly 300 pounds throughout the last few years. His Hudl chyron is a photo of him flexing with crossed arms that looks like an AI prompt of someone asking for a jacked alien wearing a lacrosse helmet.

But that sort of weight gain and subsequent loss weren’t always motivated by the most positive factors. 

“My junior year going into my senior year of high school, I went from 180 to like 260,” Tomei said. “That completely changed how I played goalie. When I got to Ohio State, I think I walked in at 250 and I walked out at like 298. And that was really bad. I was going through some mental stuff being away from home for the first time. I was really overweight. I was really depressed in life. So, from Ohio State to Jacksonville, I went from 298 to about 210. That was probably the leanest I’ve ever been.”

At that point, Tomei took an unconventional path for most lacrosse players looking to play at the NCAA level. After a short search for a program in the fall of 2022, he landed at Keiser, an NAIA program right next to his house that plays in the Appalachian Athletic Conference.

At Keiser, Tomei rediscovered his love for lacrosse and became a force of nature once again.

“I didn’t even know if I could play anymore,” he said. “But they gave me a spot. And I immediately went there and just started grinding. I was fortunate enough with a good team to win the championship over there. Once that ended, I was like, ‘You know what? I need to get back to the NCAA level. I still got this thing.’” 

That opportunity came in the form of Belmont Abbey after Tomei sent an email to head coach Chris Barrett out of the blue.

“Christian was finishing up at the NAIA school down there in Florida, and I think he really wanted to get back to the NCAA,” Barrett said. “He happened to send an email to me, and I started looking into it and really started doing some research on who he was. And I literally thought to myself, ‘I can’t pass up this opportunity to get a guy like this in our program.’”

That thought paid off.

“I think he’s completely changed the mindset of the guys in the program and how we feel about game day as well as our ability to be successful on game day,” Barrett said. “So, he has been a huge positive addition to the program. I think we’ve been fortunate here at the Abbey during my time to have some pretty decent goalies, you know, Thomas Sullivan, All-American Harley Whittam, and Bryce Gifford, who was an All-American. With all that said, Christian’s the best goalie I’ve ever had here.”

It was another big step in a journey back to the game that Tomei had, admittedly, abandoned. And it was not taken lightly.

From Ohio State to Jacksonville to Keiser and now to Belmont Abbey, Tomei has taken time to reflect on what he learned from his path. He has a message for other players going through similar struggles.

“I think what you don’t realize is that when you’re in high school, especially when you’re getting all these offers, and you’re the biggest you can be, when you get to college, whatever level it is, there’s a hundred of you,” Tomei said. “I think a lot of kids are just too immature to realize that, but you just gotta think down the road, and you gotta think of those moments you could share with, not just your brothers, but the world. You want to say that you live the life you want to live and that you have no regrets. I don’t necessarily regret anything I’ve done because it put me in a great spot. There are not a lot of people out there that are doing what I did — started at the top and just came back and made a name for themselves again. I’ve had people DM me telling me that they quit and now they want to get back into it because of me. I’m trying to spread the message that it’s never over and there’s always a spot out there for somebody

So far this season, Tomei has helped the Crusaders to a 7-2 record. He played every minute of the first seven games and vast majority of the most recent two contests, resulting in 146 saves. Tomei has a goals-against average of 7.80 and a save percentage of 68.2 percent, which leads Division II.

Tomei is, without a doubt, one of the best goalies in all of Division II lacrosse. While that is high praise, Tomei keeps himself motivated with an emotion goalies often have a fraught, but understanding, relationship with — fear.

“I’m so scared for the final day I have to play lacrosse,” Tomei said. “People don’t realize how scary that really is until it is your final game in your final couple of minutes. I’m not looking forward to that moment. Just thinking about that even when I wasn’t playing and not having the sport really just kind of put some fear into me, and I think that really made me mature right at that point where I told myself and my girlfriend right before I started that if I’m gonna do this, one day I’m gonna have my last name on a PLL jersey.”