Tuesday, October 27, 2009

Matt Stoffel Golf Outing

On Friday, October 16th the men's lacrosse office and Blue Jays Unlimited hosted their annual Matt Stoffel Golf Outing at Greystone Golf Course in White Hall, MD. The proceeds from this event assist the Matt "Stoff" Stoffel Scholarship Fund. Stoff played in 18 games as a reserve defenseman for the Blue Jays from 2001-2004. He was a member of three teams that advanced to the Final Four and one team that played in the NCAA Championship game. A graduate of nearby Mt. St. Joseph High School, Stoff earned a degree from the Zanvyl Krieger School of Arts & Sciences in Economics in 2004. In December 2005, Matt lost his life in a one-car accident, the fund was created to help maintain Matt's legacy. To date, over $130,000 has been dedicated to the scholarship fund.

This year's event took place on a rainy Friday afternoon in about 43 degrees, we here at BJU are starting to think that any golf event we plan is jinxed. However, the weather and the cold didn't deter people from coming out in support of this great cause. We had about 90 former players and friends of the lacrosse program tee off with a 1:00 p.m. shot-gun start. However, some were bigger troopers than others with how many holes they
played! After everyone finished playing, Coach Pietramala and his staffed hosted a dinner where Matt's parents, Pat and Glynn Stoffel were able to attend all the way from Florida. It was a pleasure to see them and I know all of the alumni were thrilled that they could make it again this year. The foursome consisting of Gerry Evans, Mark Vogel, Gary Jones and Mike Evans took the prize this year with a score of 68. Congrats!

After the delicious dinner from The Classic Catering People, Coach started off the silent auction in order to raise some more money for the Scholarship Fund. This year we had 18 items, including gear from the Ravens, the Giants and the Bengals as well as some items from legends like Barry Sanders, Brooks Robinson and Johnny Unitas/Dick Butkus. Overall, the team raised just over $11,000 from the auction.

Both the men's lacrosse team and Blue Jays Unlimited thank everyone who came out to support this year's event. It was a great way to honor a former teammate and come together as alumni.