A Pair of MIAA Lacrosse Rivals and FCA Teammates Commit to VMI

Loyola's Luca Ball and Jake Van Metre will be future teammates when their MIAA lacrosse careers conclude

Loyola Balkefield's Luca Ball (left) and John Carroll's Jake Van Metre, a pair of FCA teammates, have both committed to Virginia Military Institute. / Al Franyo

For our last lacrosse college commitment announcement here, we featured two 2027 female players from the IAAM who have decided to attend the United States Naval Academy. Now it is time to look at a couple of 2027 MIAA student-athletes heading to a fellow military college.

Loyola Blakefield attackman Luca Ball and defenseman Jake Van Metre of John Carroll, who are FCA teammates, committed to the Virginia Military Institute to play lacrosse on Monday, December 8th. While multiple MIAA competitors from one class have chosen the same college program many times throughout the years, it hasn't occurred all the time in which they made their commitment on the same day.

When it comes to college lacrosse programs which have shown tremendous improvement recently, one of both the best examples and stories is, without a doubt, the VMI.

In 2021, the Keydets finished 1-10. However, each season after that, through this past spring, the amount of wins have increased. Sure enough, VMI's 2025 final record was an impressive 10-4. That marked their highest victory total since 1988. At least a few MIAA products played a part in this run under Coach James Purpura. And, with Luca and Jake aboard for 2027, one can say that the Keydets' recruiting pipeline is going strong and off to a fine start under new head coach Taylor Mendoza.

Coach Mendoza is most likely very familiar with MIAA lacrosse. He spent the past five years across town in Lexington, Virginia, as an assistant coach at Washington & Lee. Prior to that, Mendoza was the director of lacrosse operations at Penn State from 2018-2021. During his time with each program, both got several MIAA players. Mendoza has inherited a VMI program that is in good shape and hungry to take the next steps. The next immediate one is to appear in the Northeast Conference Tournament, which they just missed in 2025. And, the next huge step is to make the NCAA Tournament. 

Luca says he chose VMI because he believed that institution would give him the best chance to succeed in college while being surrounded by people like himself who could help him grow as a player and person. Luca also wanted to be put in a school that would set him up for life and teach him life lessons that he will carry with him forevermore. In addition, the VMI coaching staff is not only phenomenal, but they are very suited to what he was looking for in coaches at the collegiate level. Most importantly, Luca thanks Coach Haus, Coach Ford, Coach Breschi, and the rest of the Loyola Blakefield coaching staff. They have taught him so much about lacrosse and life, as well as having carried him through the recent process.

As for Jake, he made his decision to be a Keydet because he wanted to be challenged both academically and athletically. Regarding the latter part, he connected well with Mendoza and strongly believes in him. Also, Jake is looking forward to serving his country after graduation.

Many congratulations and best of luck to Luca Ball and Jake Van Metre! Could both their current MIAA(each has a head coach going into his third season) and future college programs get to higher levels during their time there? And maybe higher than they have been in quite some time, if not ever?