Rallying the troops

Upon his arrival on UD’s campus his freshman year, John Pastorek ’07 joined the club lacrosse team hoping to satisfy his desire for competition. But what he found was much more — lifelong friendships with his teammates.

“Our Dayton lacrosse alumni network is very strong,” Pastorek said. “My crew is a pretty tightknit group.” 

Recently, a bunch of Patrorek’s teammates and more lacrosse alumni came together for a Shootout for Soldiers tournament in Texas, thanks in part to Andrew Urban ’13. The tournament supports veterans and helps foster community engagement. 

Spanning multiple grad years — from 2007 to 2015 — this alumni team didn’t have the chance to all play together at UD. They did, however, all play under coach Charlie Mark.

Mark approached Pastorek when he was team president as a sophomore. The team wasn’t a part of the Men’s Collegiate Lacrosse Association yet and didn’t have a coach. So, when Mark offered to take the reins and turn them into a legitimate team, Pastorek was relieved someone would help him change the team culture. 

“He’s a tough love kind of guy,” Pastorek said. “But this was his vision. He would tell us, ‘You guys are going to be friends for life’ … and here we are, 15 years later, and everything he said he wanted to happen came true.”  

Wanting to honor Mark — a Naval Academy graduate — the squad named themselves “Charlie Mark’s Militia.” 

“The organizer of Shootout for Soldiers pulled our team aside when coach Charlie came down to our sideline and gave quite the testimonial about how much he has meant to lacrosse and to the cause,” Pastorek said.

“I thought it was really cool for him to be recognized like that in front of his guys.”

Mark smiled as he cheered the men on to victory against Indiana and Michigan State before falling short to Texas A&M in the finals, 11-10.