WEST POINT, N.Y. (May 27, 2010) -- Coming out of high school, 2nd Lt. Tyler Seymour's number one goal was to play lacrosse at a Division I level school. The two-time high school All-American was not sure where he wanted to go. Not being from the traditional lacrosse "hot bed," the Nashua, N.H., native went on his official visits to make his mind up.
"It came down to (Virginia Military Institute) and Army after my visits," Seymour said. "I wanted to know where I was going to school before Thanksgiving of my senior year."
According to Seymour, the idea of joining the military was not something that he was looking toward much like virtually every male in his Family has done, with Seymour's father, Ted, recently retiring from the Air Force as a lieutenant colonel.
After listening to what all the schools had to offer, Seymour made his final official visit to West Point.
"After spending the weekend with all the guys here, the camaraderie and the feeling of unity, I felt I just knew where I wanted to go," Seymour said. "After I talked to my Family, I called Coach A (Joe Alberici, head men's lacrosse coach) and said I wanted to come to West Point, and he told me 'let's get after it.'"
Since the day he stepped on campus as a cadet, he has been contributing not only as an athlete, but in the classroom as well.
"I have taught Tyler in three or four classes," Lt. Col. Darryl Ahner, Class of 1990 and math assistant professor, said. "He embodies everything what a cadet and a young officer should be.
"In the hardest class I teach to Firsties in mathematics, Tyler not only is one of the best students in the class, he also can see when people are struggling and goes out of his way to make sure they are keeping up in the classroom," Ahner added.
Seymour's Academic Quality Point Average enabled him to branch Aviation, as less than 11 percent of the corps is selected to attend flight school annually.
As graduation approached May 22, for the large majority of the Class of 2010, they were looking forward to celebrating with Family and friends, but Seymour, along with his teammates, had other things on their minds.
"It has been a very intense week, from beating Syracuse in the Dome in double overtime to preparing for graduation to preparing for our second round (NCAA Playoff) game against Cornell," Seymour said excitedly.
The team's season was historic, as they defeated Navy twice, were Patriot League champions and defeated the defending national champions in the first round of the playoffs.
Many community members have said this was the best they've seen Army lacrosse in years.
However, the season and the dream weekend did not end the way Seymour and his fellow Black Knights wanted to finish their careers at West Point, falling short to New York state rival Cornell in the quarterfinals.
Seymour finished his career by scoring the final Black Knight goal in the contest, and completed the season starting all 17 games and scoring 23 goals and dishing out nine assists.
"Tyler personifies the meaning of student/athlete. He has had an outstanding athletic and academic career at West Point," Alberici said. "I am very proud of how he represented this program in all that he did. Tyler's Firstie year performance on the field was a big part in this year's success."
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