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A 20-yard grass strip separating the Thomson house from its neighbor was Finn Thomson’s first lacrosse field. Thomson and his three older brothers would head to the small patch immediately after school. Then, a break for dinner before heading back out to the side yard, practicing their stick movements and whipping in more shots on a mini lacrosse goal.

Thomson would play with his first club team, Mimico Lacrosse, when he was 5 years old in the Baby Peanut division, then come home and toss around a lacrosse ball with his brothers — Tanner, Keaton and Hudson. By 8 years old, Tanner said the older brothers figured Thomson was old enough to get thrown in front of the net, his small frame getting pelted with shot attempts.

“Hopefully, that helped him get a little tougher. That’s something I never got to deal with, was getting beat up by my older brothers,” Tanner said. “So I never got the toughness like he did.”

Thomson continued the line of lacrosse players in his family, becoming the fourth brother to play at the Division-I level when he started at attack for Syracuse against Vermont. Those close to him said his ascent to becoming one of the best players in Ontario — from box lacrosse to St. Michael’s College to Everest Academy — was unsurprising. Thomson was a natural scorer, originally a top recruit at Michigan before committing to SU. 

Following his brothers, two of whom play in the National Lacrosse League, Thomson always had a stick in his hands on the sidelines of his brothers’ games, St. Michael College’s head coach Angus Dineley said. But Thomson created his own identity, built over years of playing, watching and learning from older players. Instead of attacking with a more “sporadic” approach, like Tanner said he and his other brothers do, Thomson patiently waits for the defense to mess up, then pounces on the mistake.

The Thomsons are a quiet family, Tanner said, and the brothers don’t talk technically with each other about the sport. Tanner said lacrosse was always the best when they saw it as a game, something fun to do in the side yard or with their teams. There were goals set for Thomson that revolved around playing professionally, but Thomson was best as his own player and the other brothers knew that. 

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“He has a natural feel,” Dineley said. “He just had a great feel for where to be. I wish I knew exactly how to coach that because I’d do it more often.”

Cole Begley was 11 years old when he moved to Toronto and tried out for Mimico Lacrosse. He described Thomson, as an “enigmatic person that was a star from the get go.” Their coach positioned a lacrosse ball in the center of the box lacrosse rink the team played on. Begley lined up across from Thomson, readying himself for the ground ball drill. The coach blew his whistle, and both players flew off of their lines toward the ball. 

Begley remembers the competition was never close. Thomson would sprint faster to the ball, quickly scoop it up, stand up and score. It felt surreal to Begley to see someone so young with that much talent, and for the next seven years, he played alongside Thomson, befuddled at his ability to create shots and get around any defender. Thomson learned to play with more creativity. He came to Syracuse knowing how to effectively create his own space, work around guys in tight quarters and make quick reads under pressure. 

Rory Graham, a former high school teammate of Thomson, said that while field lacrosse is more “run-and-gun,” box lacrosse forces a player to create space with their stick skills and quick hand motions, something Dineley said Thomson always had. Graham, who had played with Thomson since he was 12, watched him develop twists and quick passes that were difficult to cover in box lacrosse, but were nearly impossible to stop on the field. 

“I’ve seen him turn a lot of heads his entire career,” Graham said. “He creates space for himself to get his hands free and then the different angles with passing and shooting just create different looks.”

During his third career game and Syracuse’s 20-goal win against Holy Cross, Thomson got a feed from Jackson Birtwistle inside the defensive. He spun around, his stick hinting an aim for a high shot. But, as he whipped the ball around, Thomson dropped his stick and flung a shot low past the goalie for Syracuse’s first score. Toward the end of the first quarter, Thomson received the ball about 13 yards away from the net. He quickly flicked in a one-hop shot that got behind the goalie for a hat trick.

Life never seemed to speed up on Thomson, and neither did lacrosse. Despite playing nearly 100 games a year between box, club and school lacrosse, Thomson never wavered, gradually becoming more skilled, patient and dynamic as a scorer. When he committed to Michigan on Sept. 2, 2020, he was in line to take over a talented squad as the No. 5 recruit in the 2023 class. There were other schools, but playing for the Wolverines was his best offer. Everyone was “fired up,” Tanner said.

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Then, Thomson received a call from Syracuse head coach Gary Gait. Gait offered him a chance to play in the Atlantic Coast Conference for an offensive coordinator that granted his offensive players freedom — similar to how Thomson learned the game. The Orange had come in late to the recruiting process, but he immediately flipped to sign with SU. 

“He knows that he’s the best player in the country,” Tanner said. “He knows he’s going against the best competition and he knows it’s going to be the hardest it possibly can be.”

Through three games, he’s already showcased his stick skills and had shown promise in becoming what Pat March said was going to be “an above the cage player.” Conference play hasn’t started, and Thomson hasn’t gotten a true taste of ACC competition, but he’s already shown his prowess as a scorer and point-getter, just like he did in high school.

In one game at St. Michael’s, Dineley remembered Thomson caught a ball in traffic that Dineley said he “probably shouldn’t have been able to catch.” He was unphased, but Dineley was surprised that he corralled it, let alone throw a behind-the-back pass to his teammate in front of the net. His teammate was so surprised that he stopped moving. Just like so many other times, Thomson proved he was one step ahead of everyone at his age.

“Finn just seems to have this shine to him,” Begley said. “It’s not easy to go there, with all the pressure on him, and score and win. He comes alive in those moments.”

Published on February 23, 2023 at 12:30 am

Contact Anthony: aalandt@syr.edu | @anthonyalandt