Nils Barry is an attackman on the heralded ADVNC SF ‘21 team committed to play lacrosse at Bates College next fall.
Ever since Nils’ very 1st game, he’s loved lacrosse.
Nils was introduced to the game in 1st grade by his first cousins, Catriona Barry, currently a senior lacrosse player at Duke University, and her brother, Finn Barry, who recently graduated from Furman University, where he was a captain on the lacrosse team. Nils is set to follow in his cousins’ footsteps and play major college lacrosse.
“At first, I was just throwing it around in our backyard with my cousins and younger brother,” said Nils. “Then in 2nd grade, I started playing on a team. I fell in love with the game right away and I’ve loved it ever since. I had been playing baseball, but it was too slow for me. Lacrosse is a lot more active. The game never stops. That made me enjoy it way more.”
Nils (left) with his 1st cousin, Finn Barry (right)
Nils has looked up to his cousin, Finn, all the way through his lacrosse journey. Finn started playing for Golden State Lacrosse, a select club that was a precursor to ADVNC Lacrosse. Nils and his younger brother, Mack, a member of the ADVNC North Bay ‘24 squad, still play lacrosse in the backyard together, to this day.
“When I saw Finn go to play lacrosse in college, I was in middle school, and that made me begin working out a lot more on my own and taking it more seriously,” said Nils. “That’s when I knew I wanted to play in college and that’s when I started going to tournaments on the East Coast and started to see what college recruiting was like.”
Nils grew up playing travel lacrosse with All West and the Alcatraz Outlaws. Nils was asked to play for the ADVNC SF ‘21 squad by head coach Jack Huber, and decided to join before his Junior year at Saint Ignatius.
Nils played for the Ross Valley Grizzlies as a youngster.
“The ADVNC team was very welcoming to me,” said Nils. “I already knew most of the guys on the team, either from playing with them at Saint Ignatius and the West Coast Starz or against them when younger playing for the Southern Marin Wolfpack. ADVNC traveled more to the East Coast, which I wanted."
Nils is one of 16 players on the ADVNC SF ‘21 squad to commit to play major college lacrosse. “It’s been a great experience playing with those guys,” said Nils. “They are all really strong lacrosse players and I have so much trust in their abilities. On ADVNC, any guy on my team can pull anything off. ADVNC has been an awesome experience overall. We made the Naptown Finals twice in Maryland. Our team’s chemistry, even though I was new to the team at first, was really good.”
“Nils became a better player by playing with top notch players on ADVNC,” said his mom, Tina Barry.
Nils said that playing with ADVNC significantly helped him in the recruiting process. “It was hard at times,” Nils said. “It was a long process, but ADVNC and Coach Rotelli (ADVNC Founder & CEO) helped me a lot. Coach Rotelli helped me communicate with a lot of college coaches. He did anything I asked and was really reliable.”
“Rotelli’s responsiveness was notable and he was constantly willing to help us,” said Kevin Barry, Nils’ dad. “Whether it was a prospect camp or just to check in with a college coach, Rotelli was always getting feedback for us, which was huge.”
“I was really interested in the NESCAC schools because of their blend of great academics and high level lacrosse,” said Nils. “I was talking to Bates, Middlebury, Amherst, Bowdoin and Trinity frequently. All NESCAC schools waited until mid summer after my junior year to make sure my grades were where they needed to be and my senior year coursework was challenging enough."
Ultimately, Nils decided that Bates College in Maine was the right fit for him. “Coach Lasagna (Peter Lasagna is the longtime head coach at Bates) is one of the main reasons I chose Bates,” said Nils. “He’s a really great guy. Genuine. Easy to talk to. When I was looking at colleges, academics came before lacrosse for me. But Bates has both strong academics and great lacrosse.” Nils will compete in the NESCAC with fellow ADVNC 2021 teammates Bennet Goller (Colby), Garrett Hawthorne (Middlebury) and Charlie Taglieferi (Tufts).
Nils is a standout attackman for Saint Ignatius and ADVNC.
Nils went through the recruiting process during the pandemic. That meant a lot of virtual meetings and tours. But Kevin Barry credits social media for helping their family get to know Coach Lasagna and the Bates lacrosse program. “Peter (Lasagna) was all over social media in March and April because one of his former players, Jack Allard, got COVID-19 and was intensely sick, and nearly died. Coach Lasagna and the Bates lacrosse program took to social media in supporting Jack and his family, and Jack eventually beat the disease. It was amazing to see how compassionate and genuine Coach and the Bates lacrosse family was towards their former player. It was all about their love and care for a former player. To see that as a parent, made a big impression on me.
“With many coaches, they would just send Nils a quick text to check in,” said Tina Barry. “But every time Coach Lasagna checked in, it was more personal. He took time to get to know Nils on a personal level. He took more time to get to know Nils more, and as a parent, that’s a nice thing to see.”
Finally, while Nils waits and hopes to play his senior season at Saint Ignatius, he looks forward to his upcoming journey at Bates. He’s also excited to play for Team Sweden in the U21 Lacrosse World Championships in Ireland in 2022 thanks to his mom, Tina Barry hailing from Sweden and Nils holding dual citizenship. His lacrosse journey has consistently provided both unexpected and rewarding experiences, as well as new friendships and he looks forward to this continuing into the future.