By S. Quinn DeJoy and J. Murrer

Jul. 12, 2017:  By the end of the summer, sixteen Broncos from the class of 2017 will be heading off to continue their athletic careers at the college level. Almost half the recruits will play lacrosse, and the remaining nine will compete in track, swimming, tennis, crew, soccer, squash, and basketball.

The Broncos are sending three athletes to the University of Pennsylvania: squash player Ryan Murray, lacrosse player Beth Finley, and rower Lauren Schnepp.

Murray, who is ranked twelfth in the U.S. for U19, committed to play at Penn almost a year ago, and his decision was partly based on his great admiration for Penn's coach, Gilly Lane. Murray, who has played squash for most of his life, met Lane at tournaments when he was just seven or eight years old. When Lane took over as the Quakers' head coach last season, he asked Murray to join the team.

Beth Finley, a four-year varsity lacrosse player who earned Academic All-American status this spring, is also going to put on the Quaker uniform.

"I am so excited," said Finley. "I went to Penn's lacrosse camp a couple of weeks ago. I was able to spend time with all my classmates and that was really fun." Finley committed to Penn in February of her sophomore year.

In total, five lacrosse players will head to the Ivies, including Olivia Jensen, who will play for Cornell.

"I actually had a little bit of a different recruiting process," said Jensen. "I went to college lacrosse camps in eighth grade. My mom went to Cornell, and once I went to the campus, I knew I wanted to go there. I committed in June of my freshman year."

Jensen was one of the first women lacrosse players to be recruited as a freshman and the youngest Cornell recruit ever. Since that time, the NCAA has changed the rules so that the earliest a player can be recruited is junior year.

Maddie Coyne, goalkeeper for the Bronxville soccer team and defensive MVP, had a completely different college recruiting experience. Coyne attended Division 1 camps as a sophomore and decided not to pursue a college athletic career. At the end of her senior soccer season, however, she decided she did not want to give up soccer, so she contacted the coaches at the schools where she had applied. Two schools reached out to her, and she committed to Dennison University in April after she received her acceptance letter.

Also headed to Dennison is Jack Reilly, a three-year starter on the varsity basketball team and league MVP. Reilly kicked off the recruiting process by attending showcases and tournaments last summer. The Dennison coach recruited him after seeing him play at a showcase at Columbia University. Reilly and Coyne are good friends and are looking forward to being classmates again at Dennison.

There is more than one path to becoming a college athlete. While some attend multiple tournaments and showcases, sometimes Bronxville athletes join a team after they arrive at school. Matt Toal, a four-year varsity basketball player, is in contact with the Middlebury College coach and plans to try to join the team as a walk-on. This past winter, Toal received the prestigious Court of Excellence award, which is given to the top ten basketball players in Section 1 for their performance on and off the court.

Below is a complete list of Bronxville's recruited athletes.

Lauren Schnepp, University of Pennsylvania, crew
Jack Reilly, Dennison University, basketball
Beth Finley, University of Pennsylvania, lacrosse

Lucy Hanrahan, Gettysburg College, lacrosse
Olivia Jensen, Cornell University, lacrosse
Ellie Walsh, Cornell University, lacrosse

Mason Warble, Brown University, lacrosse
Ara Atayan, University of North Carolina, lacrosse

James Swartz, Harvard University, lacrosse
Maddie Coyne, Dennison University, soccer
Ryan Murray, University of Pennsylvania, squash

Liv Cappello, Middlebury College, squash
Nicole Veru, Wesleyan University, swimming

Robby Simon, The Johns Hopkins University, tennis
Kaitlin Ryan, Stanford University, track
Sydney Coddington, Holy Cross, track

Go Broncos. 

Pictured here (rotating):  (L to R) Coach Sharon Robinson and lacrosse college recruits Lucy Hanrahan, Mason Warble, Ellie Walsh, Beth Finley, and Olivia Jensen (photo by J. Murrer); UNC lacrosse recruit Ara Atayan (photo by J. Murrer); Stanford-bound Kaitlin Ryan (far right) (photo by David Brashear).