DAPHNE — Troy Capstraw, one of the top lacrosse goalie recruits in the nation put pen to paper on his National Letter of Intent to join the Virginia Cavaliers Wednesday evening.

The All-American, four-star prospect registered a 72% save percentage on 2,814 shots faced in 234 games over three seasons. He’s suited up for teams the likes of the Virginia Lacrosse Club, Nationals Lacrosse Club, Lower Alabama Bayhawks and Team Eire Ireland among others.

With his commitment, the Cavaliers had the No. 1-rated recruiting class where Capstraw was part of a quartet of four-star prospects alongside a quintuplet of five-star recruits and one three-star.

When Capstraw’s recruitment opened on the first of September his junior year, he received calls from the head coaches at his top four schools including North Carolina, Duke, Jacksonville and Virginia. After he and his family constructed a road trip to make visits at each of the prospective campuses, Capstraw said he felt he could see himself as a Cavalier more than any other mascot.

“Every visit was great, Virginia was just different. I loved the team, the coaching staff was fantastic,” Capstraw explained. “When I was there on grounds, I was getting to talk to these teammates and I was thinking that these are the kind of people I want to be in four to five years and that was really the selling point. And the knowledge that Coach (Lars) Tiffany has on not just the lacrosse world but on life.”

The visit made such an impression on him that Capstraw made a discreet purchase before leaving Charlottesville.

“I had secretly bought a hat from Virginia before I left. Basically because I really enjoyed Virginia and, at the end of the day, I was probably going to know somebody who went to Virginia and I could give them the hat,” Capstraw said. “I remembered I called Coach Tiffany … I told him I wanted to commit, that I really looked forward to it and I had a really great visit. Then I remember riding home in the hat and I was like, ‘OK, this is for real now.’”

It became officially official on Wednesday when he signed his NLI in front of friends and family in his neighborhood in Daphne. While he got emotional addressing the crowd, it was simply an overwhelming feeling of appreciation that came over Capstraw.

“Tonight was really great, having this great community around me and everything that I’ve been able to grow up with my entire life, it was fantastic to have them here,” Capstraw said. “I invited a lot of people and almost everybody came, some people had other things and that was perfectly fine but everybody I felt truly connected to and everyone that I truly love was here tonight. And that was fantastic, getting to have all of them together — that was the best part of tonight, not the actual signing but seeing everyone come together.”

In his moment of reflection, Capstraw acknowledged the full-circle moment of realizing the dream he had been envisioning for the last three years.

“It's kind of surreal seeing everything come full circle,” he said. “Obviously, it’s only the beginning. I haven’t played a single second of lacrosse but I’m pumped for the opportunity, what’s going to happen and what the future holds for me, my teammates and all my friends across the world that are also going to play college sports.”

Stay tuned for the full feature story on Capstraw’s journey from Alabama to one of the top college lacrosse programs in the nation.