Henry Schoonmaker didn’t think too much of the flu-like symptoms.

But when he started to climb the stairs in his house, it became apparent it was more than the flu. Schoonmaker passed out on the steps. Minutes later, an ambulance rushed him to Oregon Health and Science University. What ensued was a bout with E. coli that involved a loss of 30 pounds, a depletion of strength and an uphill climb against kidney failure.

‘I turned pretty skinny and pretty pale pretty quick,’ Schoonmaker said. ‘I was in the hospital for like a month.’

Going into his junior year of high school, Schoonmaker faced the task of having to regain his health to a point where he’d be able to play on a lacrosse field again. Rather than knock him down permanently, the adversity only highlighted the work ethic for which Schoonmaker’s coaches praise him. It’s the same work ethic that carried him from an unknown recruit to a standout midfielder his senior year of high school. Now, he’s across the country at Syracuse, where he caught yet another bad break and had to recover from a shoulder injury last year.

With a spot on the No. 6 Orange’s (1-0, 0-0 Big East) second midfield line, Schoonmaker is backing up the SU head coach John Desko and his staff’s decision to take a chance on a player from Oregon, a state that isn’t known for producing lacrosse players. He’ll try to register his first collegiate goal against Army (2-1) on Sunday at 2 p.m. in the Carrier Dome.

Schoonmaker’s doctors still don’t know what caused the E. coli that wreaked havoc on his health. He went from 170 to 140 pounds, but the kidney failure made him retain so much water weight that he’d go up to 180 pounds. Schoonmaker then had to undergo dialysis to drain the excess weight.

When doctors finally released Schoonmaker from the hospital, his high school coach, Will Harris, immediately saw the physical change.

‘The coaches loved him, he worked hard. It’s just who he was,’ Harris said. ‘He scrapped for ground balls. He ran up and down the field. He didn’t cry about playing defense. … He lost a ton of weight, so part of that work ethic was getting back to a place where he could actually play.’

During that previous summer, though, Schoonmaker couldn’t attend any recruiting events to try and get noticed by any college coaches.

Through a connection with former SU lacrosse great Ryan Powell and a breakout performance his senior year, that all changed. Powell coached Schoonmaker’s club team, the Rhinos, and was the first one to seriously talk Schoonmaker into considering Division-I lacrosse.

In the first game of his senior season against Lakeridge, a lacrosse power in Oregon, Schoonmaker scored nine points, Harris said.

‘It was just a dominating performance from every aspect of the game. He didn’t miss the net very often in that game,’ Harris said. ‘At that point, I talked to Ryan after the game, and Ryan was like, ‘OK, I’m going back to Syracuse this weekend. I’m going to sit down and talk to Desko and see if we can get him a spot.”

The prospect of going across the country for school wasn’t a problem. Schoonmaker had already considered attending the University of Melbourne in Australia to play club lacrosse. He also had Simon Fraser University in British Columbia, Canada, on his list of possible colleges.

Once the Orange called with an offer, Schoonmaker knew he was staying in the United States. Just on the opposite coast.

‘It was definitely Syracuse,’ Schoonmaker said. ‘Before that, I definitely wanted to play lacrosse in college, but I never thought it would be possible to play at Syracuse. But once they called, it was over.’

With full midfield lines in front of him last season, Schoonmaker took a redshirt season to save a year of eligibility. Two games into the season, he suffered a shoulder injury that held him out of SU’s practice, stripping him of time to prove himself to the coaches.

But he recovered.

Schoonmaker worked all summer and returned for his second season with intent on earning the spot for which he traveled across the country.

And he did exactly that.

Desko compared him to former Orange attack Chris Daniello. In one season, Schoonmaker has gone from a non-factor to someone who will be a key contributor.

‘As far as what he’s done this year, he’s made as big an improvement in one year as maybe we’ve seen out of a player,’ Desko said. ‘I think a lot of it has to do with his hard work and how athletic he is.’

cjiseman@syr.edu

 

Published on February 22, 2012 at 12:00 pm

Contact Chris: cjiseman@syr.edu | @chris_iseman