Windham High’s Yale to play for All-American New Balance Lacrosse Team

By Matt Pascarella

Windham junior Evan Yale has been chosen to play on the New Balance All-America Lacrosse Team in a tournament which runs through July 30 in Maryland.

Windham junior Evan Yale competes during a skills and
drills session at Cape Elizabeth on Thursday, July 20.
Yale has been chosen to play for the New Balance 
Al-America New England Lacrosse Team and will compete
in Maryland from July 27 to July 30 in a lacrosse
tournament. PHOTO BY MATT PASCARELLA  

The All-American Lacrosse Tournament displays some of the most talented players in the country and roughly 100 applicants tried to make this team and from that group, only 23 were selected to represent New England in the tournament.

Yale said that he wanted to try out to compare himself to other players and see how good he was. He says trying out for the team had no downside.

“He’s a guy that will come out and do anything that you ask,” said Windham varsity boys’ lacrosse coach Peter Small. “I think he’s somebody who can score, I think he can move the ball with his stick and pass and find people open; he gets a ton of ground balls. He has this all-around game where he can step back and evade a defender but also come in tight on a defender.”

Specifically, Yale will suit up for the 2023 New Balance All-America New England Lacrosse Team’s Burn Division, which consists of players graduating in 2025. The event in Maryland will be composed of three divisions in each region – the Command Division, the Highlight Division, and the Burn Division.

To be one out of 23 selected for this team is a real honor. Yale said it felt great to be chosen for the New Balance All-America New England team.

“I saw the subject line of the email and I was so happy,” said Yale. “I think it will be really great, there’s not many Maine kids that get to do it; I don’t think we have anyone from Windham who’s made it before. It’s really cool to be one of the first for Windham and the state of Maine.”

His hard work has already gotten him noticed by All-America Lacrosse on the field. He was a member of the 2023 Undergraduate All-Star Team and was written about in the 2022 New England Lacrosse Journal as one of the most impressive attackmen.

Accolades motivate Yale to work even harder, but also show him what his hard work can become. Yale said he knows working harder means he’ll get better on the field.

Windham senior Tobias Perkins praised Yale as a great choice for this tournament because of his great skill set and positive attitude. Perkins said Yale has a strong ability to get by defenders and create space to get a shot off and Yale can see the field and make great passes.

Practices with the Windham team, playing wall ball and staying after practices with teammates to work on shooting and the basics of the game have helped Yale a great deal in achieving an accomplishment like this.

“He’s an outstanding and accomplished player,” said Lee Corrigan, Owner and Operator of Corrigan Sports Enterprises and All-America Lacrosse event powered by New Balance. “It’s a very prestigious thing to be involved with the All-America Games. He’s an outstanding player [and it is projected] that he’ll be an outstanding player at the collegiate level. The people who have come through our event in the last 17 years have all gone on to have great college careers.”

Small said that Yale brings a high lacrosse IQ, a willingness to do anything for his teammates and a complete game to the field. Yale is very team-oriented and Small said he could have scored more this year but chose to feed his teammates and that he’s an unselfish player in the way that he plays.

Yale is aiming to attend a college with a competitive lacrosse program when he finishes high school. <