Widely considered the best goalie in the city, Chris Fiore was acknowledged for being just that by the PSAL.
“It’s an honor to be considered the best in the sport that you love, it’s just another great feeling,” he said. “There are no words.”
The New Dorp keeper accepted the PSAL Wingate Award, given to the top senior in each sport, for boys lacrosse Monday night at the Brooklyn Marriott. The four-year varsity starter has been a stalwart in net for the Central Cougars through good times and bad, always giving them a chance to win whenever he stepped on the field. He is the third member of the Fiore family to play lacrosse at New Dorp.
“Eighth grade around Christmas I got my first lacrosse stick,” Fiore said. “I played in an indoor league, which is absolutely terrible, bruises all over my body. I was crying every game.”
He stuck with it and his freshman year he was in net as a strong group of seniors led the program to its first ecity title. With the team struggling the next two seasons, Fiore faced a bevy of shots as he averaged more than 250 saves a year. This season he was a big reason behind New Dorp’s return to prominence, finishing second in the PSAL Championship Division before losing to rival Tottenville in the city final.
“He’s a tremendous player,” Central Cougars coach Brian Murphy said. “It’s very unlikely we will have another goalie like him down the pipe.”
Still, with all his accomplishments, Fiore struggled to find college suitors. He went to multiple camps and showcases, and played on outside teams, but couldn’t get major programs to bite despite performing well in each forum.
Fiore doesn’t look like your typical keeper, standing 6-foot-2 with his signature mane flowing from the back of his helmet and checking in at 245 pounds. Yet he possesses extraordinary stick stills and he makes it nearly impossible to score from more than 8-to-10 yards out.
“If you’re not recruited by your sophomore summer you are usually skipped over,” said Fiore, who boasts an 96 average. “I got some looks from the Division I schools, but it didn’t work out the way it planned.”
Through it all, Fiore knew he had a place he would be comfortable with both academically and athletically in Division III Morrisville State College, which is an hour east of Syracuse. His older brother Matt went there and Chris did want to take the route of his other brother Andrew, who is an attack playing at perennial national champion Onondaga Community College. Morrisville’s double major of sports medicine/fitness management for two years and sports science the next two ultimately sold him on the school.
“I didn’t want to go to college just to play lacrosse,” Fiore said. … “I’m learning what I want to learn and playing lacrosse. That’s what I want to do.”
That’s exactly what he’s done in four years at New Dorp, furthering the legacy he and his brothers have left at the school.
“We are going to miss him,” Murphy said. “He comes from a great family. … He may be the best of the bunch.”