Midfielder Griffin Mallory is leaving a lasting impact in his final year with St. Joe’s lacrosse
The graduate student emerged as a starter last season and is putting together the best numbers of his college career this year. He’s also leaving the program “better than you found it.”
When Griffin Mallory came to St. Joseph’s as a freshman in 2022, he knew he wouldn’t get much playing time on the men’s lacrosse team. The midfielder had 18 seniors and graduate players ahead of him on the depth chart.
Mallory spent his redshirt season trying to mimic the players he looked up to. He played on the scout team, going up against the first team defense, and it gave him the chance to improve.
“Just seeing how they would do extra work or the way that they watched film, they were all great role models for me,” Mallory said. “I started to develop good habits of; hitting the wall before practice every day, watching film every night. Not just watching film, but to watch it critically. Learning from those guys — they have been around the block, and they’ve played lacrosse at such a high level for so long.”
Now, Mallory, a graduate student, is providing guidance to younger players. He has continued to climb the ranks at St. Joe’s to earn his spot. He’s a captain this season and has started every game, while leading the team in assists (16) and is second in scoring (9) and points (25).
“He’s really just put his nose down and gotten to work,” said first-year coach Scott Meehan. “He has a lot of respect from the guys because of that and how he attacks his day-to-day, great habits. One of the smartest players on the offensive end for us, always knows what he’s looking at.”
» READ MORE: Longtime assistant Scott Meehan gets his chance to lead the helm of St. Joe’s men’s lacrosse
‘Came full circle’
Playing lacrosse wasn’t on Mallory’s radar, that was until the National Lacrosse League’s Colorado Mammoth showed up to his elementary school in Colorado. They ran a clinic for kids at the school and Mallory, a first grader, was hooked.
Mallory returned to the clinic for the rest of the week. His parents later signed him up for a club, and while he played football and basketball, Mallory was drawn to lacrosse.
At Valor Christian High School, he was named to the All-State team and eventually looked into playing collegiate lacrosse. He visited St. Joe’s during his junior year of high school.
“So I initially came out in the fall and visited St Joe’s and enjoyed meeting with the team and everything. Kind of still had some more development to go around within my personal game and everything else,” Mallory said. “Didn’t end up committing, and then COVID happened, so everything shut down. ... They eventually reached back out after [I] got some more film and continued to work and develop. I revisited campus. Got to meet a couple of guys. I toured around and loved it. It was a great fit, and it kind of came full circle.”
When Mallory came to Hawk Hill, he quickly connected with defensive midfielder Michael Gaughan, a graduate student, and attacker William King, who graduated in 2024.
“I just knew that they believed in me, and they were going to put me in a spot to make a play, or vice versa,” Mallory said. “Having the green light from our coaches and not questioning that when you’re a younger guy and when you mess up, they were there to pick me up, and just knowing that they backed me was really big.”
That belief has helped Mallory improve each year.
In 2024, Mallory saw action in every game during the Hawks run to an Atlantic 10 championship and a first-round appearance in the NCAA Tournament. He emerged as a starter last season, where he tallied 7 goals and 13 assists in 15 games.
Leading by example
Mallory has become who he used to look up too.
His leadership has helped the team get through a coaching change. Former coach Taylor Wray departed from the program in the offseason for the job at Penn. Meehan, a longtime assistant coach, was promoted.
Mallory wasn’t what to expect under a new staff, but this has been the best season of his college career and will be his last. The Hawks (5-4) have two games remaining in the regular season. They’ll look to snap a two-game skid at Richmond on Saturday (12 p.m.).
“It’s always tough to say goodbye to guys that do a lot for the program,” Meehan said. “One of the things that he’s been great with is helping to impart what he knows onto the younger guys. He speaks up in film sessions. He uses his voice at a high level, and hopefully that’s rubbing off on some of the younger guys. We always talk about leaving it better than you found it, and he’s trying to do that with how he’s leading the team.”
At the end of this season, Mallory plans to move to Connecticut to pursue a career in finance. In the meantime, he hopes to finish the season on a high note.
“We’re just kind of trying to take it day by day,” Mallory said. “We have our end of the season goals still in mind, and I think we’ve done a good job of continuing to push for that and knowing that and knowing that that’s where we want to end up at the end of the season. But taking what you learn from the game or early in practice, how you can continue to apply it, and I think our team has been really good at responding to that.”