Gavyn Vazquez has always played soccer, but he found another sport when he was a freshman at Ewing High School.
Lacrosse.
Ewing doesn’t have the big feeder program like some surrounding towns, and almost every player on the Blue Devils boys team is like Vazquez – a late comer to the game. But the junior attackman and faceoff specialist has found just what he wanted in lacrosse.
“I knew nothing about the sport, but I got used to the sport,” Vazquez said. “I fell in love with it really. It’s a sport that I love to play, more than soccer, more than anything else.”
Vazquez enjoyed a breakout season in his third year in the sport. He had five points in each of his first two seasons with the Blue Devils. This year Vazquez led the team with 61 points on 38 goals and 23 assists.
“Freshman and sophomore year, I still had to learn the rules and everything behind it,” he said. “But this year everything was different. It felt different. It felt like it was going to be my year. I showed them as soon as I got on the field, I showed everyone, I proved everyone wrong. It’s just a big difference. I showed all my efforts basically.”
Vazquez has been more than a points generator for the Blue Devils. He’s also critical to them earning possessions. At the start of each quarter and after every goal, the teams faceoff in the center, similar to ice hockey. Vazquez has been Ewing’s primary faceoff specialist – sometimes nicknamed FOGO for “face off, get off” because many specialists are substituted out immediately after taking the faceoff. He has won 57 percent of faceoffs, winning 165 of 287 taken. That number is closer to 62 percent if you throw away Ewing’s game against Colonial Valley Conference powerhouse Robbinsville.
“He’s been a leader in the FOGO position, getting us our faceoff, getting up, taking a quick lead, making those crucial runs into the box and down to cage when we need him to,” said Ewing coach Trevor Hahn. “It’s shown in his skill progression this season with not only being one of our leading goal scorers, he’s probably one of our you know leading guys for assists. He comes out of the game with multiple goals and multiple assists and faceoff wins. He’s improved a lot this year and I know senior year is going to improve you more.”
Vazquez is a reflection of his increased dedication to the sport. For Christmas, he received his own goal.
“I’ve been shooting in the backyard,” he said. “Really just practicing my shot, finding what’s comfortable and that definitely improved my shot and the strength of my shot behind it.”
He also played in the Centercourt Lacrosse Club in the winter again to hone his skills coming into the spring. The Blue Devils didn’t have enough players to fully field their own team, so they played together with a group from Steinert High. Together his efforts have helped him put together a season that he knew he was capable of.
“As soon as I grabbed the stick, I knew I was going to be good,” Vazquez said. “I’ve definitely had some ups and downs, but I used those as learning experiences and I grew from that and it really just helped my game a lot.”
Vazquez joined the sport because he had friends who were also going to try lacrosse as freshmen. He’s grown more comfortable each year with what he can bring to the team. The Blue Devils tried him on faceoffs because of his shiftiness, aggression and understanding of what it takes to win possession. He continues to work on those aspects in the specialty role.
“I might do some camps,” he said. “I might do the Princeton camp coming up this summer. I’m definitely going to be in the backyard a lot.”
Vazquez’s improvements are part of the overall development of the Blue Devils. After a couple of two-win seasons, Ewing won four games this year, and four other losses were decided by three or fewer goals.
“We only have to play the teams that are in our division so that’s Steinert and Nottingham,” Hahn said. “So that really opens us up to kind of find other teams like Long Branch, Vineland, Neptune, Winslow, all these teams that are struggling to kind of build a program. Lacrosse isn’t a sport that every town has. It costs a lot of money to play. So being able to play against teams that their skill level is improving too really allows us to have these 11-10 games, 10-9 games, games that are back and forth, which is great. There is a little bit of traveling involved, but it gives our boys a really good competitive schedule.”
Vazquez has seen the Blue Devils coming together to play better. Despite some key injuries to players with talent, Ewing has been able to show improvement. They beat a Wilberforce School in the final weeks of the season that they lost to earlier in the year. Three of their wins came in the final eight games.
“Definitely the chemistry on the team and the communication has changed a lot,” Vazquez said. “We grew together as a team, as one. I feel like freshman and sophomore year was all over the place, too many mistakes on the field, not being vocal enough. But now I think we’re kind of getting used to the fact that we have to talk more. So that’s a lot different.”
Vazquez and the Blue Devils are becoming a lot more confident. His game took off in the first meeting with Wilberforce, a hard-fought 11-10 loss when Ewing basically ran out of time for a comeback. Vazquez exploded with five goals and four assists, matching the nine points combined he had leading into the game after six games.
“Gavyn showed up that game, getting a bunch of goals for us, and then I think that was the game that kind of turned his season,” Hahn said. “Then he’s just been our goal scoring machine since that game, which is great.”
Vazquez had another nine points against Winslow in a big win, and four goals and an assist when they avenged their loss to Wilberforce with a decisive 11-6 win. He posted a career-high eight goals and an assist – and the Blue Devils needed every one of them in a 10-9 win over Holy Cross Prep. It’s been more than the stats on the field that have changed for Vazquez.
“I think his leadership role,” Hahn said. “I’ve had the pleasure of knowing Gavyn since he was in elementary school. And watching him grow up, he’s always been a quiet kid, but he knows what to do when it comes to sports. When it comes to soccer, lacrosse, he knows his role. But he’s been kind of quiet and last year we were looking for a little bit more leadership from him. He was giving us the skill, but we wanted to see more, help your team out, figure it out for the new guys. And then this year he stepped up tremendously.”
Soccer still holds a special place with Vazquez too, though his role is vastly different. Instead of being offensive minded like in lacrosse, he’s often at the defensive end for Ewing soccer trying to prevent goals. Playing both has helped him.
“Soccer really helped my cardio and my stamina,” Vazquez said. “Without soccer, I feel like it would be a lot harder on the field for lacrosse because with all the gear. It’s just so different. You really don’t have any gear on for soccer, so it’s going to help a lot with speed and stamina definitely.”
Vazquez will be gearing up for fall soccer over the summer, but he’s also making sure he’ll have time for the other important things in his life. He enjoys spending time with his family, and their two dogs and listening to music. It’s the perfect getaway for him after a hard practice or game. He is focused on developing his lacrosse game further after his breakthrough year.
“My last year next year, I definitely want to improve more,” Vazquez said. “I think I’m capable of succeeding. I’m capable of doing better than I did this year. I really strive off of improving and doing whatever I can to improve my flaws.”
Gavyn Vazquez has already gotten more than he could have ever imagined out of joining lacrosse. He tries to spread his passion for the sport to others at Ewing, and share how much enjoyment and improvement he’s gotten from his latest passion.
“I was going to try my best and give all my effort basically on the field,” he said. “It was different from soccer, which I loved. I just really needed something different. And seeing that it was more physical and I really enjoyed the adrenaline when you get hit and all of that, I really enjoyed it. I definitely wasn’t expecting it.”
Blue Devils lacrosse standout Gavyn Vazquez fights off an opponent during a recent game.,
