Tyler Smith jests that he was born with skates firmly fitted on his feet. Like many hockey-crazed Minnesotans, the 2022 Duluth East graduate’s first love was the ice. However, he soon discovered a passion for another stick sport: lacrosse. With few designated fields in his hometown, Smith sharpened his skills in backyards and played games on golf course fairways. As he rose to statewide prominence as one of Minnesota’s most gifted lacrosse players, Smith dreamed of playing collegiate lacrosse on the East Coast. But a Division II coach in Missouri proved persistent on the recruiting warpath. “I had no idea Rockhurst was even a thing,” Smith said. “They kept texting me, and eventually I checked it out on the way back from another college visit.” When Smith committed to the program in July 2021, he ultimately enrolled in one of Minnesota’s preeminent men’s lacrosse pipelines. Located just minutes south of downtown Kansas City, Rockhurst University is a private Jesuit school with fewer than 3,000 undergraduates. Twenty-such students are men’s lacrosse players from Minnesota. “We’re traveling six hours south — away from our families — to go live on our own,” said Matthew Kallberg, a Prior Lake alum and senior defender for the Hawks. “It’s one of the scariest things you do, but then you find out, ‘My God, these guys are all from the same state I am.’ We’ve played against each other. We have hockey and all these other similar interests.” For Minnesotans looking to pursue lacrosse collegiately, local options are few and far between. Men’s college lacrosse programs here only compete at the club level. Meanwhile, the closest Division I or Division II program, Illinois’ Lewis University, is more than 400 miles away from the Twin Cities.