Greg "The Cat" Cattrano (born August 6, 1975) is a retired

lacrosse Lacrosse is a contact team sport played with a lacrosse stick and a lacrosse ball. It is the oldest organized sport in North America, with its origins with the indigenous people of North America as early as the 12th century. The game w ...

goaltender In ice hockey, the goaltender (commonly referred to as goalie or netminder) is the player responsible for preventing the hockey puck from entering their own team's net, thus preventing the opposing team from scoring. The goaltender mostly plays ...

, who is recognized as one of the most successful and accomplished goaltenders in the history of the sport.

High school career

Cattrano played for

Ward Melville High School Ward Melville High School is a public high school in the Three Village Central School District of Suffolk County, New York on Long Island, serving grades ten through twelve. It is fed by the two junior high schools in the district: Paul J. ...

where he was an All-American in his senior season. His 1992 team won the New York State Lacrosse Championship. In 1993 he was awarded the Lt. Ray Enners Award as Suffolk County's outstanding lacrosse player.

Collegiate career

Cattrano attended

Brown University Brown University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Providence, Rhode Island, United States. It is the List of colonial colleges, seventh-oldest institution of higher education in the US, founded in 1764 as the ' ...

. In 1997, his senior year, he was named

NCAA The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is a nonprofit organization that regulates College athletics in the United States, student athletics among about 1,100 schools in the United States, and Simon Fraser University, 1 in Canada. ...

Goalie of the Year, All-

Ivy League The Ivy League is an American collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference of eight Private university, private Research university, research universities in the Northeastern United States. It participates in the National Collegia ...

, All-New England, and Brown Bears Team MVP. In addition he was named

All-American The All-America designation is an annual honor bestowed on outstanding athletes in the United States who are considered to be among the best athletes in their respective sport. Individuals receiving this distinction are typically added to an Al ...

twice. Cattrano finished his collegiate career with an amazing 68% save percentage, and his three goals still stand as the NCAA record for offensive production by a goaltender in NCAA sports.

NLL career

Cattrano played three seasons indoors for the

New York Saints The New York Saints are a former member of the National Lacrosse League. They played at the Nassau Coliseum in Uniondale, New York, from 1989 MILL season, 1989 to 2003 NLL season, 2003. They became an inactive team after the 2003 NLL season, 2002� ...

of the

National Lacrosse League The National Lacrosse League (NLL) is a professional box lacrosse league in North America. The league comprises 14 teams8 in the United States and 6 in Canada. The NLL is headquartered in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. ...

(1998–2000), posting a 13.68 goals against average in seven career games.

MLL career

Cattrano played in all five of the league's first Championship Games from

2001 The year's most prominent event was the September 11 attacks against the United States by al-Qaeda, which Casualties of the September 11 attacks, killed 2,977 people and instigated the global war on terror. The United States led a Participan ...

2005 2005 was designated as the International Year for Sport and Physical Education and the International Year of Microcredit. The beginning of 2005 also marked the end of the International Decade of the World's Indigenous Peoples, Internationa ...

, winning the Steinfeld Cup in

2002 The effects of the September 11 attacks of the previous year had a significant impact on the affairs of 2002. The war on terror was a major political focus. Without settled international law, several nations engaged in anti-terror operation ...

and

2004 2004 was designated as an International Year of Rice by the United Nations, and the International Year to Commemorate the Struggle Against Slavery and Its Abolition (by UNESCO). Events January * January 3 – Flash Airlines Flight 60 ...

. His leadership skills helped guide the Barrage from a 1-11 record in

2003 2003 was designated by the United Nations as the International Year of Fresh water, Freshwater. In 2003, a Multi-National Force – Iraq, United States-led coalition 2003 invasion of Iraq, invaded Iraq, starting the Iraq War. Demographic ...

, to champions in

. Cattrano has won the Major League Lacrosse Goaltender of the Year Award three times, and was named Major League Lacrosse MVP in

. Cattrano was also voted to the Inaugural All-MLL Team, and started in multiple

Major League Lacrosse All-Star Game Major League Lacrosse All-Star Game is the all-star game of the Major League Lacrosse, MLL. Years 2000s 2001 The inaugural 2001 All-Star Game, was titled the Major League Lacrosse LacrosseStar Game. From 2001–2003, the All-Star Game had the Nat ...

. Though his career, Cattrano was extremely durable. In

, he was the only goalie in the MLL to play every minute of every game. Cattrano is the league's goalie leader in wins, boasting an incredible 40-19 record, including playoff games. He has saved 58% of the 1,611 shots he has faced in his career, and has a league-best 13.4

goals against average Goals against average (GAA), also known as average goals against (AGA), is a statistic used in field hockey, ice hockey, lacrosse, soccer, and water polo that is the mean of goals allowed per game by a goaltender or goalkeeper (depending on spo ...

. In

, Cattrano became the first goalkeeper to score in an MLL game, tallying his first professional goal against the

Rochester Rattlers Rochester may refer to: Places Settlements England *Rochester, Kent * Rochester, Northumberland United States * Rochester, Illinois * Rochester, Indiana * Rochester Township, Cedar County, Iowa ** Rochester, Iowa, an unincorporated co ...

in a 19-15 win at

Villanova Stadium Villanova Stadium is a 12,500 seat stadium located on the campus of Villanova University in Villanova, Pennsylvania, USA. History Villanova Stadium was originally built in 1927 and dedicated on October 8, 1927. The stadium plays host to a wide ...

. Cattrano also achieved the feat four times in his college career at

, twice playing for NYAC club lacrosse, and six times in high school.longislandlizards.com: Team
/ref> Cattrano originally played for the Baltimore Bayhawks for first three years of the league's existence, before being traded to the Philadelphia Barrage for the first overall pick in the 2004 Collegiate Draft (Baltimore selected

Michael Powell Michael Latham Powell (30 September 1905 – 19 February 1990) was an English filmmaker, celebrated for his partnership with Emeric Pressburger. Through their production company Powell and Pressburger, The Archers, they together wrote, produced ...

). The

Long Island Lizards The New York Lizards, originally the Long Island Lizards, were a Major League Lacrosse (MLL) team based in Hempstead, New York, located on Long Island. They are original members of the MLL. They lost the league's inaugural game on June 7, 2001 to ...

acquired Cattrano, March 29, 2005, sending Philadelphia native Brian Dougherty to the Barrage in an exchange of the top two goaltenders in the league. Cattrano retired after the 2006 season, and his number "2" was retired by the

in the 2007. Prior to the MLL forming, Cattrano played club lacrosse for NYAC and represented

Team USA The United States national team or Team USA may refer to any of a number of sports team representing the United States in international competitions. Olympic teams Additionally, these teams may compete in other international competitions such as ...

in the 1999

World Lacrosse Championship The World Lacrosse Men's Championship is the international men's field lacrosse championship organized by World Lacrosse that occurs every four years. The WLC began before any international lacrosse organization had been formed. It started as ...

Awards

References

External links

Suffolk County Ray Enners Award profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Cattrano, Greg 1975 births Living people American lacrosse players Major League Lacrosse players Major League Lacrosse major award winners Ward Melville High School alumni Brown Bears men's lacrosse players Lacrosse players from New York (state) New York Saints players