When Graham Bundy Jr. arrived at Georgetown University in Washington, D.C., the St. Louis native stepped out of his car and immediately saw several upperclassmen from the Hoyas’ men’s lacrosse team.

Bundy, a freshman, smiled as they raced to help him unload his belongings and lug them into the freshman dorm.

“Did you get a moving service?” a dormmate asked Bundy.

“No,” he said satisfyingly. “These are my teammates.”

Bundy, whose clean-cut image off the field belies the fierceness he displays on it, had found the perfect place to call home for the next four years.

“He’s going to blaze his own path,” Georgetown coach Kevin Warne said of Bundy, ranked the No. 1 midfielder in his recruiting class by Inside Lacrosse. “He’s a sweetheart of a kid, he’s competitive as all hell, and he’s just a real joy to be around.”

Warne called Bundy a magnet. People gravitate toward him. Coaches, peers, teachers — even Warne’s 7-year-old daughter, Campbell, who hasn’t stopped asking about him since they had the team over for a barbeque at their Darnestown, Md., home.

“After every practice, he thanks you and shakes your hand,” Warne said.

U.S. U19 team coach Nick Myers saw the same thing over the summer. US Lacrosse invited 104 players to try out for the 2020 team at its headquarters in Sparks, Md., cut it down to 50 and then named a 32-man training roster following a three-day camp that culminated in a Blue-White exhibition July 14.

Bundy, the only player in Missouri history to score more than 400 points, was grouped with short-stick defensive midfielders and quickly made an impression on the coaching staff.

“This was a guy that was cleaning the locker room after sessions,” Myers said. “One of the toughest guys on the field. Eye contact. Yes sir. No sir. Really impressed me.”

Bundy said that’s just the way he was raised. His father, Graham Bundy Sr., played on North Carolina’s 1991 NCAA championship team. His mother starred in swimming and field hockey at MICDS, where Bundy and his three brothers would follow in her footsteps.

“Whether it’s Go Fish or ping pong, that competitive spirit goes through my family,”  he said. “The majority of time, my mom comes out on top.”

Sure, Bundy has other passions.

Like cooking. He makes a mean beef bourguignon and pasta con chicken, but he’s best at baking. “If I do that too much, it will become dangerous for my body,” he joked.

Bundy also golfs and plays tennis to “slow things down” and quiet his mind. And you won’t be surprised to know that he was an all-metro utility guy for the MICDS football team.

But lacrosse remains Bundy’s sweet spot. When he’s not playing, he’s coaching. He was named Project Missouri Coach of the Year after leading his U12 team to the 2018 title.

“I had a bunch of 12-year-olds chasing me around with water for 25 minutes and dragging me on my feet. Energy balls like myself,” he said. “It was great to be a child again running around with those kids.”

Bundy’s youthful vigor was evident during the Blue-White game. He scored two goals, capitalizing on transition opportunities while continuing to play the kind of blunting defense Myers expects of the “dogs,” his nickname for short sticks. They play a pivotal role in the international game, where the lack of a shot clock or stalling mechanism allows teams to isolate matchups repeatedly on the same possession.

Should Bundy qualify for the 2020 U.S. team that travels to Limerick, Ireland, he’ll also have the benefit of a year of college experience. Twenty-five of the 32 players competing in training camp Nov. 15-17 at Ohio State are current collegians, including 24 from the high school class of 2019.

If Bundy had any lingering doubts about coming to the school he committed to as a freshman (before current recruiting rules were in place), they vanished the moment he stepped on campus and found teammates to help him haul his stuff. They’re an extension of Warne, who like Bundy is equal parts likable and intense. He speaks highly about his prized recruit.

“He has unlimited potential,” Warne said. “We haven’t even scratched the surface of what he can do.”

NOTES: The U19 training squad will play Culver Academy (Ind.) on Saturday at 3 p.m. and The Hill Academy (Canada) on Sunday at 10 a.m. Both games will be played at Ohio Stadium in Columbus, Ohio and admission is free of charge.