Daniel F. Cocoziello (born August 8, 1985) is a

lacrosse Lacrosse is a 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 was extensively ...

defenseman who plays professional

field lacrosse Field lacrosse is a full contact sport, full contact outdoor men's sport played with ten players on each team. The sport originated among indigenous peoples of the Americas, Native Americans, and the modern rules of field lacrosse were initiall ...

in the

Major League Lacrosse Major League Lacrosse (MLL) was a men's field lacrosse league in the United States. The league's inaugural season was in 2001. Teams played anywhere from ten to 16 games in a summertime regular season. This was followed by a four-team playoff f ...

(MLL). He starred as a member of the

Princeton Tigers men's lacrosse The Princeton Tigers men's lacrosse team represents Princeton University in NCAA Division I men's lacrosse play. Princeton currently competes as a member of the Ivy League and plays its home games at the Class of 1952 Stadium in Princeton, New ...

team from 2005 through 2008 where he started every game. He is the only defenseman to have earned the Men's

Ivy League The Ivy League is an American collegiate athletic conference comprising eight private research universities in the Northeastern United States. The term ''Ivy League'' is typically used beyond the sports context to refer to the eight schools ...

Rookie of the Year. He was a three-time

United States Intercollegiate Lacrosse Association The United States Intercollegiate Lacrosse Association is an association of member institutions and organizations with college lacrosse programs at all levels of competition, including the three NCAA divisions and non-NCAA schools, at both the varsi ...

(USILA) All-American (once first team and twice second team) and three-time All-Ivy League selection (twice first team and once second team). During his college career, Princeton earned an Ivy League championship and two NCAA Men's Lacrosse Championship invitations. In high school, he won three state lacrosse championships.

Background

Born in the Oldwick section of

Tewksbury Township, New Jersey Tewksbury Township is a township located in Hunterdon County, New Jersey and is located within the New York Metropolitan Areabr>As of the 2010 United States Census, the township's population was 5,993, reflecting an increase of 452 (+8.2%) from ...

, Cocoziello was a

baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each, taking turns batting and fielding. The game occurs over the course of several plays, with each play generally beginning when a player on the fielding tea ...

and

soccer Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 players who primarily use their feet to propel the ball around a rectangular field called a pitch. The objective of the game is ...

player in his youth. He attended elementary school at

Gill St. Bernard's School Gill St. Bernard's School is a private, nonsectarian, coeducational, college preparatory day school located in the Gladstone, New Jersey, Gladstone section of Peapack-Gladstone, New Jersey, Peapack-Gladstone, New Jersey, United States, serving s ...

in New Jersey. He met his middle school, high school and college teammate

Alex Hewit Alexander G. Hewit (born November 8, 1985) is a retired lacrosse goaltender. He led his high school to three New Jersey state championships and was one of the most sought after high school lacrosse players in the United States. He starred as a m ...

taking an entrance exam for New Jersey's

Delbarton School Delbarton School is a private all-male Catholic Church, Catholic college-preparatory school in Morristown, New Jersey for young men in seventh grade, seventh through twelfth grades. It is an independent school directed by the Benedictine monks ...

in sixth grade. Even in seventh grade at Delbarton, Cocoziello was still a baseball player who was introduced to lacrosse during lunch and free periods with his classmates. He eventually got a

lacrosse stick A lacrosse stick or crosse is used to play the sport of lacrosse. Players use the lacrosse stick to handle the ball and to strike or "check" opposing players' sticks, causing them to drop the ball. The head of a lacrosse stick is roughly triangular ...

and started practicing as much as he could. In eighth grade, he joined the school team and made a New Jersey state eighth-grade all-star team along with Hewit that competed against all-stars from other states. He eventually joined the

varsity team In most English-speaking countries, varsity is an abbreviation of the word ''university''. In the United States and Canada, the term is mostly used in relation to sports teams. Varsity in the United Kingdom In the United Kingdom, varsity team ...

and helped lead the team to a cumulative 63–4 record and three high school lacrosse state championships. He was regarded as the best high school lacrosse recruit in the nation in the 2003, according to ''

Inside Lacrosse Inside Lacrosse is a lacrosse media entity and ESPN affiliate. It includes many parts including a news website, an 11 times annual magazine, online video streaming, internet forums and an ESPN television show. The company is currently headquarter ...

''. He played

linebacker Linebacker (LB) is a playing position in gridiron football. Linebackers are members of the defensive team, and line up three to five yards behind the line of scrimmage and the defensive linemen. They are the "middle ground" of defenders, p ...

high school football High school football (french: football au lycée) is gridiron football played by high school teams in the United States and Canada. It ranks among the most popular interscholastic sports in both countries, but its popularity is declining, part ...

and was offered a scholarship to play for

Hofstra University Hofstra University is a private university in Hempstead, New York. It is Long Island's largest private university. Hofstra originated in 1935 as an extension of New York University (NYU) under the name Nassau College – Hofstra Memorial of Ne ...

, but opted to play lacrosse at Princeton.

College career

He started every game of his career at Princeton, where he earned the 2005 Men's Ivy League Rookie of the Year, the only defensemen to every to garner the award. That year he was an honorable mention All-Ivy League selection. He was also the first defenseman to win the Ivy League Rookie of the Year award. He was a first team All-Ivy League choice in 2006 & 2008 and second team choice in 2007 He was a first team

USILA All-American Team The USILA All-American Team is an honor given annually to the best American men's college lacrosse players at their respective positions by the United States Intercollegiate Lacrosse Association. The first USILA All-Americans were named in 1922, a ...

selection in 2008 and second team selection in 2006 and 2007. He served as co-

captain Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police department, election precinct, e ...

of the 2008 team along with longtime teammate Alex Hewit and Bob Schneider. The 2006 team was Ivy League co-champion with

Cornell Cornell University is a private statutory land-grant research university based in Ithaca, New York. It is a member of the Ivy League. Founded in 1865 by Ezra Cornell and Andrew Dickson White, Cornell was founded with the intention to teach an ...

. Princeton qualified for the NCAA Men's Lacrosse Championship in

2006 File:2006 Events Collage V1.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2006 Winter Olympics open in Turin; Twitter is founded and launched by Jack Dorsey; The Nintendo Wii is released; Montenegro 2006 Montenegrin independence referendum, votes to declare ...

2007 File:2007 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Steve Jobs unveils Apple's first iPhone; TAM Airlines Flight 3054 overruns a runway and crashes into a gas station, killing almost 200 people; Former Pakistani Prime Minister of Pakistan, Pr ...

. During Cocoziello's junior year, while playing in a scrimmage against Towson University, broke his vehicular bone in his left foot. Originally diagnosed as a sprain, Cocoziello played his entire junior and senior season on the broken foot. Upon graduation in 2008, he was correctly diagnosed and underwent reconstructive surgery following his 2008 MLL Season with the Denver Outlaws. The surgery was unsuccessful causing Cocoziello to discontinue playing lacrosse.

Professional career

Cocoziello began his MLL career with the

Denver Outlaws The Denver Outlaws were a Major League Lacrosse professional men's field lacrosse team based in Denver, Colorado, United States. They began playing in the MLL in 2006 as an expansion team. Since joining the league, the Outlaws have played in the ...

during the

2008 MLL season The 2008 Major League Lacrosse season was the eighth season of the league. The season began on May 17, 2008, and concluded with the championship game on August 24, 2008. Milestones and events Pre-season * Following the 2007 MLL season, the ...

. On February 20, 2009, he was reassigned to the Toronto Nationals. In

2010 File:2010 Events Collage New.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2010 Chile earthquake was one of the strongest recorded in history; The Eruption of Eyjafjallajökull in Iceland disrupts air travel in Europe; A scene from the opening ceremony of ...

, he was a member of the

Boston Cannons The Cannons Lacrosse Club are a professional men's field lacrosse team in the Premier Lacrosse League (PLL) . Formerly based in Boston, Massachusetts, they played in Major League Lacrosse (MLL) as the Boston Cannons from their inaugural 2001 sea ...

. He has appeared in no

National Lacrosse League The National Lacrosse League (NLL) is a men's professional box lacrosse league in North America. The league is headquartered in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The NLL currently has fifteen teams: ten in the United Stat ...

games. However, his

rights were acquired by the Philadelphia Wings in the 2010

Orlando Titans The Orlando Titans were a professional lacrosse team in the National Lacrosse League that played in the 2010 season. The Titans began as the New York Titans, and played for three seasons in New York before announcing the move to Orlando on Augus ...

dispersal draft.

MLL statistics

The following are his MLL career stats:

Life after the MLL

Cocoziello currently lives in New York City where he works in real estate for New York-based StructureTone, Inc. He is also pursuing a Master's in Real Estate from

New York University New York University (NYU) is a private research university in New York City. Chartered in 1831 by the New York State Legislature, NYU was founded by a group of New Yorkers led by then-Secretary of the Treasury Albert Gallatin. In 1832, the ...

References

External links

Cocoziello
at the

{{DEFAULTSORT:Cocoziello, Dan 1985 births Living people American lacrosse players Boston Cannons players Delbarton School alumni Denver Outlaws players Lacrosse defenders Major League Lacrosse players Orlando Titans players People from Tewksbury Township, New Jersey Philadelphia Wings players Princeton Tigers men's lacrosse players Sportspeople from Hunterdon County, New Jersey Hamilton Nationals players