University Standout Reaches New Height, Signs With New Westminster Salmonbellies

One of the leading goal scorers from the men’s lacrosse team, Austin Jerhoff, has been given the chance to be recognized by the NLL by signing with the North Westminster Salmonbellies of Senior A.

Originally from Calgary, Alberta, Canada, Jerhoff took up lacrosse at the young age of four, before quitting the year after.

“I actually quit [lacrosse] and then started back up when I was six,” said Jerhoff, senior. “I played both hockey and lacrosse until I finished high school, but I was around 14 when I realized that lacrosse was my passion and truly started to focus on that.”

In fact, Jerhoff was 14 years old when he first visited Queens Park, the New Westminster Salmonbellies’ home arena.

“When I was 14, I got the dream to play for the ‘Bellies. Ever since then, I have been working to achieve that,” said Jerhoff.

This past summer, Jerhoff had the chance to play and graduate from Junior A, a league for 16-21 year olds. After that experience, Jerhoff decided to reach out and show interest in playing in Senior A, the tier of the Salmonbellies.

“[The Salmonbellies] were impressed with my play and thankfully signed me to their roster,” said Jerhoff. “This is a huge step in my lacrosse career, as playing Senior A ball will help me gain recognition with NLL teams, and hopefully will result in getting drafted to the league in the upcoming years.”

As a teenager, Jerhoff dreamed of playing for the Salmonbellies, and that dream is beginning to become a reality.

“I always hoped I would play for Senior A, and I knew I could if I put the work in,” said Jerhoff. “But the feeling is still sinking in and still a bit hard to believe.”

What could potentially be his last season on the field, Jerhoff is nothing but humble for being able to play as a Fighting Knight.

“Lynn has given me a lot of opportunity to grow my game both on and off the field,” said Jerhoff. “Practicing everyday helps me sharpen my stick skills, whether it be passing, shooting or catching. Off the field, Lynn has helped me a lot, [with] the lacrosse world being so small, [it] is a tight knit community and the coaches here at Lynn have great connections that may help me down the line.”

With all of this excitement upcoming, this Lynn lacrosse captain and the team have much to focus on for the rest of their season.

“We started off the year with three wins, one of them being the biggest win in program history against Adelphi,” said Jerhoff. “After that, we hit a couple of bumps in the road with three loses, but we are keeping our heads up and looking towards conference play, as winning the conference is our goal.”

With his Lynn career coming to a close, Jerhoff cannot forget what Lynn has meant to his growth both on and off the field. Moving forward with the Salmonbellies, he will take many of the lessons he has learned at Lynn for success down the road.

Christina Diabo

Christina Diabo graduated summa cum laude with a bachelor’s of arts degree in multimedia journalism from Lynn last May. Now as a graduate assistant in the College of Communication & Design, Diabo hopes to pursue a career involving her skills and talents in the broadcast journalism industry, hoping to report for the Golf Channel.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published.

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.