Eli Gobrecht ’16, Ithaca College men’s lacrosse alum, is leaving an impact on the sport by playing with two professional lacrosse teams, representing his country on the global stage and coaching the next generation of lacrosse players.
Gobrecht said he began playing lacrosse when he was in the second grade, but the Ithaca native had his sights on playing professionally in a different sport. Growing up around Cornell University ice hockey, the lacrosse star said he had his professional aspirations on the ice rather than on the field.
After graduating from Ithaca High School in 2011, Gobrecht played on the junior ice hockey circuit for a year and said he found that playing professionally was a much steeper challenge than he originally thought. He said he had a change of heart, so he went back home and committed to playing lacrosse at Ithaca College under head coach Jeff Long.
“I think [hockey] gave [Gobrecht] a lot of maturity, taught him the physicality of the game,” Long said. “That warrior mentality you need on the ice plays very well over to the lacrosse field and that’s how he played, with amazing passion and intensity.”
When Gobrecht got to the college, he said that playing professionally was something that was in the very back of his mind, but not a main priority.
“I think the priority getting on campus was I wanted to play right away,” Gobrecht said. “[The] first year went pretty well for me, [it became] something I thought was maybe a little more realistic, just kind of looking at what other D–III guys had been able to make that transition to play professional and keeping that in mind as a possibility.”
Gobrecht was primarily a close, long-stick defender in college, but he was actually new to the position. Growing up, Gobrecht was mainly a midfielder, but this led to him sitting low in the depth chart on the Ithaca High School team.
Mark Wenham, who was Gobrecht’s defensive coach at Ithaca High School said he had asked Gobrecht to play defense his senior year to allow him to get onto the field and to fill team positional needs. He said he and the other coaches saw how confident and tenacious of a player Gobrecht was and thought he would be a great fit at the new position.
“He had a high ceiling, there was a lot for him to grow into that position, which he did and he was just spectacular at IC,” Wenham said.
The 2016 season was Gobrecht’s final one at the college, and it saw him lead the Bombers to a program-best 20-2 record, as well as an NCAA Division III quarterfinals appearance. Gobrecht was one of four seniors on the team and Long said those four seniors did a great job of leading the team and allowed him to be much more hands off as a coach. He added that Gobrecht was one of the greatest captains in his coaching career.
“I think by my senior year we were definitely a player-led team, which is what you need to be successful at the college level,” Gobrecht said.
Gobrecht’s leadership is something that has not gone unnoticed at the professional level either. Bill Tierney, who has coached seven national championship teams at the Division I level, is Gobrecht’s current head coach for the Philadelphia Waterdogs of the Premier Lacrosse League. Tierney described Gobrecht as a player that sets the tone during the PLL season that goes on from June to September.
“The biggest compliment I can pay is he is a great leader, but he picks his spots,” Tierney said. “There’s lots of guys who can lead, a lot of guys who can talk, but Eli, when he does talk, guys listen.”
Before joining the Waterdogs, Gobrecht began his professional career with the Denver Outlaws of the PLL in summer 2018. After graduating from the college, Gobrecht went overseas to get his master’s degree in financial management at Durham University in England.
When he returned to the states, Gobrecht was able to earn a try-out with the Vancouver Warriors of the National Lacrosse League. The NLL is box lacrosse played indoors and has competition from December to May. While Gobrecht ended up getting cut, it led to him getting another opportunity with the Outlaws and he made the team as a short–stick midfielder.
In his first season with the team, Gobrecht helped contribute to a league championship. He would go on to win another title in 2022 with the Waterdogs, this time as a team leader as he was named a league All-Star in the 2022 season, his first of two All-Star selections.
Gobrecht said the two championships were very different but both equally fulfilling. He said that his role in 2018 was to focus on individual defense, guarding Jordan Wolf of the Dallas Rattlers — a three-time PLL All-Star. Gobrecht said Wolf was one of the best players he has ever guarded. But in 2022, Gobrecht said he had a much bigger role as a leader and was more involved in team defense rather than guarding one individual player. He said he actually moved to long–stick midfield for the championship game against the Carolina Chaos, which paid off in an 11-9 victory for Gobrecht and the Waterdogs.
“I think versatility is something that’s kind of been part of my journey from the first championship to the second one,” Gobrecht said. “It was really cool to experience both of those championships with a couple of the same guys too.”
Gobrecht was able to make his box lacrosse professional debut in 2020 when he made the San Diego Seals’ roster, where he still plays today.
However, Gobrecht said his greatest experience playing indoor box lacrosse was representing the United States at the 2024 World Lacrosse Box Championships in Utica, New York.
The tournament saw the United States secure a silver medal, its highest finish in the tournament’s history. The United States took down Haudenosaunee twice, both in pool play and the semifinals, before eventually falling to Canada in the championship game.
“The first game was massive and we knew that we had something special,” Gobrecht said. “To make it back to the semifinals and to beat the Haudenosaunee again in that dramatic fashion — one-goal win — where it really comes down to the wire, that was really, really special … it’s pretty cool to be a part of a historic moment like that and pretty massive for the future of U.S. lacrosse, too.”
Now Gobrecht is preparing for the 2024 NLL season with the Seals and despite being 31, he said he has no plans of retiring any time soon. He also coaches lacrosse at Bellevue High School in Bellevue, Washington and said he hopes to continue coaching past his playing days.
“Oftentimes what happens is these guys, they get all these experiences in both pro leagues and college lacrosse,” Tierney said. “They take all that knowledge and if they’re into it they become coaches and then they can impart that knowledge and impact hundreds and hundreds of kids if they stick in it for a lot of years.”
Gobrecht said he is privileged for all that the sport of lacrosse has given him, but he could not have done it without his native town of Ithaca. He said he is grateful for the wonderful teachers, coaches and teammates he had growing up and the beautiful outdoors of Ithaca that allowed him to play outside and enjoy his childhood.
“I think the community has been awesome,” Gobrecht said. “It was pretty special to have my family be able to come to pretty much every home college lacrosse game I played and it’s something I’ll never forget growing up there. I remember my roots and I remember them fondly.”
