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In sudden-death overtime during the North Country Lacrosse League’s third-fourth grade championship game, Watertown head coach Ed Adams knew exactly who to give the ball to.

Facing the reigning champions in Carthage, Watertown drew a crucial penalty close to the goal. With a title on the line, Adams gave fourth-grader Nico Spaziani the shot.

Spaziani sprinted down the field, dodged a defender to the right, reared back his stick and let a shot loose. Nothing but net. Spaziani’s game-winner secured Watertown’s first championship at the third-fourth level, a monumental step for a budding youth lacrosse team.

”From an early age, (Nico) is the kind of kid that, if you put the ball in his hands at the end, more times than not, he’s gonna get it done,” Adams said.

Spaziani, now a senior and three-sport athlete at Watertown High School (New York), continues to be his team’s go-to guy. He shines on the soccer field as a midfielder and starts at point guard for the boys basketball team. Yet, he’s found his niche in lacrosse.

In his junior season, Spaziani was among the top scorers in the state, tallying 54 goals and 27 assists, while helping lead the Cyclones on their furthest playoff run in school history. Spaziani is committed to Binghamton University, where he will play Division I lacrosse.

“He’s one of those athletes that come along once in a lifetime who can really play everything and do really well at it,” Adams said.

From a young age, Spaziani excelled in all sports he took on. However, as he grew from youth teams, to his school teams, to local club team Orange Crush, it became clear that Spaziani was a standout on the lacrosse field.

While he chose to prioritize lacrosse, Spaziani excelled in all three sports in high school.

Watertown head soccer coach Todd Heckman sees Spaziani’s vision and range of passing from the midfield as his standout traits on the soccer pitch. Adams, now the head boys basketball coach for the Cyclones, praised his 3-point shooting and sees him as the team’s best on-ball defender.

Despite being an instrumental part of three high school teams, Spaziani’s skill set didn’t come naturally. Spaziani’s father, Vince Spaziani, remembers it being 30 below zero degrees at 10 p.m., and Spaziani was practicing his jump shot in the driveway, with his mother, Stacy, rebounding for him. On his lacrosse net in the backyard, he’d come home from middle school and shoot for hours.

Spaziani’s work paid off in his sophomore season in 2023. As one of just a few sophomores on Watertown’s varsity lacrosse team, Spaziani scored 41 goals and added 21 assists as the Cyclones reached the Section III Class B Semifinal.

“He works hard at his craft. He’s a phenomenal dodger and shooter,” Watertown head lacrosse coach Brian Navarra said. “We all know he’s got a rocket of a shot. He gets his hands free very easily and just lets that thing fly. It’s accurate, it’s a missile.”

Spaziani’s impressive sophomore year didn’t go unnoticed by college programs around the country. When the fall recruiting window opened at midnight on Sept. 1, 2023, the Spaziani family had a hard time sleeping with countless programs reaching out over the phone.

It didn’t take long for Spaziani to make his decision. Though Binghamton didn’t reach out much in the beginning, according to Stacy, the family knew he was on its radar. Spaziani had been in contact with the coaching staff, but they said they wanted to see him play more before giving an offer.

In October 2023, they followed him for a weekend with Orange Crush. Spaziani received a call from the staff on his car ride home, asking him to take a tour of the campus. After meeting with Binghamton’s coaches, he knew where he wanted to take his talents.

“I wanted to stay close to home, but not too close,” Spaziani said. “As soon as I stepped on campus on my tour, (Binghamton) just felt like home. As soon as we got in the car, I told my mom, ‘I think this is where I want to be.’”

Spaziani committed to Binghamton in December 2023, four months before his junior lacrosse season began. In the spring, he dominated once again.

Spaziani’s 48 regular-season goals helped the Cyclones cruise to a 14-2 record and a spot in the Section III Class B playoffs. He added six more goals in the postseason, including four in a comeback win over East Syracuse Minoa in the semifinal. Despite a loss to West Genesee in the final, Spaziani scored twice and cemented himself as a key voice on a Cyclones squad that advanced further in the playoffs than any Watertown team had before.

“​He’s an extension of a coach on the field, one of those guys who just does all the little things right,” Navarra said. “He’s always been a really good shooter, and we know we could depend on that, but he’s developed into being able to do all the other things.”

Spaziani now approaches his senior seasons: soccer in the fall, basketball in the winter and lacrosse in the spring, when he and the Cyclones hope to avenge last year’s loss with a sectional championship.

As Spaziani finishes off the final chapters of his high school career, his focus remains on finishing his time at Watertown with a bang. But for those closest to him, it’s more about staying true to the qualities that have got Spaziani to this point.

“We hope he just continues to be the best he can be and to help his teammates be the best they can be,” Vince said. “Just don’t stop being Nico Spaziani.”

Published on September 23, 2024 at 11:10 pm

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