Dave Webster warmed up his hands around the rubber lacrosse ball, dipped his knees and flicked his wrist to send it floating into the lights of Biddle Field. The Dickinson men’s lacrosse players followed the ball’s flight all the way through its soft landing in an orange bucket placed inside the painted logo at midfield — a red D with a devil tail.

“Oh!” they roared in unison after Webster sank the 30-foot jumper to end the practice.

It’s moments like these that bring Chris Brandau back to the text Webster sent him at around 11 p.m. one night last June. The No. 4-ranked goalie in his recruiting class, according to Inside Lacrosse, Brandau had just entered the transfer portal for the second time in two years. Previous stops at Georgetown and Maryland left him feeling unfulfilled, stuck behind All-Americans entrenched as starters and wondering just where he went wrong.

Unlike his twin brother, Matt, who has been a fixture at Yale since his freshman year, Brandau had yet to find his happy place. One of his best friends from high school, his former Boys’ Latin School teammate Tucker Booth, spoke glowingly of Dickinson, a Division III school in Carlisle, Pennsylvania, with a proud lacrosse tradition dating back to 1952.

Mostly, Booth gushed about Webster, or “Webby,” the Dickinson alum who has led the Red Devils to five NCAA tournaments, four Centennial Conference titles and three national quarterfinal appearances in the last decade.

Webster rarely brings in transfers. But Brandau reminded him of his daughter, Grace, who experienced similar listlessness as a freshman playing Division I soccer at High Point. He says he recruits from a parent’s perspective.

“Hey, this is Coach Webster,” he texted that night. “I want to get you back to the point where you’re having fun playing lacrosse again.”

Which was precisely the word Brandau chose to describe his sparkling debut last Saturday at Stevens, nearly two years to the day since the last time he started in goal. Brandau made 24 saves in the Red Devils’ 13-6 win at No. 11 Stevens, which vaulted Dickinson into the Nike/USA Lacrosse Division III Men’s Top 20 ahead of this Sunday’s showdown with Roanoke at USA Lacrosse headquarters in Sparks, Maryland — an eight-mile drive from his family’s townhome in Timonium.

“That was just a really fun game,” Brandau said Tuesday, before Dickinson’s 16-5 win over Susquehanna on Wednesday moved the Red Devils to 2-0. “Our defense was just clicking on all cylinders.”

Brandau made 17 saves in the second half alone, including 11 in the fourth quarter. Dickinson gave Stevens plenty of opportunities with 24 turnovers. But the defense, which Webster called the Red Devils’ most experienced unit, shaded shooters in ways that kept them in Brandau’s sightline.

“Chris is real competitive. He wants to see shots. That keeps him engaged and energetic,” Webster said. “He’s an explosive goalie. He’s athletic. He can gain possessions winning balls out on the end line. He’s good in the clear out of the goal. That style, that pace of game, it all helped in terms of energy.”

Brandau bears no resentment toward Georgetown or Maryland. In fact, he’s grateful as he pursues a career in finance that he has access to an extended alumni network. Both Brandau twins will be in New York this summer, Chris working in institutional equity sales and trading for Morgan Stanley and Matt doing investment banking at Bank of America.

“We’re going to be having some crazy hours together,” Chris Brandau said.

Their craziest hour thus far came in 2019, when Georgetown traveled to Yale to take on the then-defending national champion in the NCAA tournament. Brandau vs. Brandau.

Matt Brandau was enjoying a record-setting rookie season for the Bulldogs, his 50 goals surpassing Matt Gaudet’s mark for the most ever by a Yale freshman.

Chris Brandau caught fire down the stretch, supplanting Owen McElroy in goal midway through the Big East semifinal against Providence. He made six saves in the second half of a 13-12 comeback victory.

His first career start came in the conference final. With a trip to the NCAA tournament on the line, Brandau made 15 saves as Georgetown defeated host Denver 12-9.

Both Brandaus performed well in the NCAA tournament. Matt Brandau scored four goals against his fraternal twin brother, who is 13 minutes older. Under constant siege thanks to TD Ierlan going 31-for-35 on faceoffs, Chris Brandau finished with 14 saves. Yale won 19-16.

They remain inseparable — and crazy competitive. Boys’ Latin coach Brian Farrell would make Matt shoot on Chris after every practice. Loser did dishes. Chris was used to the friendly fire. Their older brother, Tim, played attack at Bucknell and was the one who convinced the twins to choose lacrosse over baseball.

The rivalry extended to academics. Each took multiple ACT tests trying to one-up the other. Chris eventually scored a perfect 36.

Today, their chirps come out on Twitter. When Matt made the U.S. roster for the World Lacrosse Super Sixes event at USA Lacrosse in the fall, Chris issued a series of which-one-of-these-is-not-like-the-other tweets.

And yet, as Dickinson’s bus made the three-hour trek up I-81 and across I-78 for the game last Saturday at Stevens, there was Chris, glued to his phone watching Matt light up Villanova for five goals in Yale’s 17-14 win — the Bulldogs’ first game since March 7, 2020.

“We’re each other’s biggest supporters,” Chris Brandau said.

It seemed both twins were destined for long and productive careers after their memorable encounter in 2019. But Brandau transferred to Maryland just two months later, allowing McElroy to reclaim his starting role at Georgetown.

Brandau started the first four games for the Terps in 2020, including a 19-save performance in a win over Penn, but it was not enough to stave off another highly touted recruit, Logan McNaney, who took over as a true freshman before the pandemic struck and then started every game as a sophomore in 2021.

McElroy was a first-team All-American and the Kelly Award winner last year. McNaney was an honorable mention All-American and made “SportsCenter” for scoring a goal from 70 yards out.

Brandau was in the transfer portal. Again.

Brandau estimated that he received 15-20 messages from coaches, including several Division I suitors, before he heard from Webster. It’s not often a goalie of his caliber — Brandau registered double-digit saves in every start he had made at the Division I level — becomes available twice.

“It’s flattering, but it’s also very humbling, because you’re in there for a reason. It means you made a decision that didn’t work out,” Brandau said of the attention he received. “It all boils down to me just trying to find a culture and a fit and people that I can surround myself with who allow me to be the best version of myself. Chris Brandau today wants something very different than what 17-year-old Chris Brandau did when I committed.”

The Brandaus exchanged congratulatory texts after both excelled Saturday in their first meaningful lacrosse games in two years. Then Matt Brandau texted Farrell, on whose staff he volunteered last spring as Boys’ Latin won the MIAA championship.

“Chris had 24 saves today,” the text read. “Looks like he’s found his home.”

Said Farrell: “That was one of the best text messages I got in a long time.”