Anthony Raio Cements Historic Spring with National Player of the Year Honor

Anthony Raio’s greatness isn’t measured in just numbers — although those are earth-shattering — but also in intangibles.

Take, for example, the New York State Class A championship game. Yes, the senior midfielder had six goals and two assists to help Half Hollow Hills (N.Y.) complete an undefeated season with a first state championship.

But the North Carolina commit also grabbed six ground balls and picked up a long pole with his team man down.

“I was like, I can do it because I play man up. I kind of have an idea of what the offense is trying to do,” Raio said. “Credit to our coaches and our team, just the culture we built that made me that unselfish player that I can be.”

As for those numbers, they were record-breaking. Raio became Long Island’s all-time leader in goals with 283, including 99 to go along with 77 assists this season. He finished with 469 career points, earned a spot on the U.S. Men's U20 Training Team, was named the USA Lacrosse High School Boys' Northeast Player of the Year and concludes his historic spring as the USA Lacrosse High School Boys' National Player of the Year.

“Anthony was a do-everything type of player. Whatever we asked him to do, he did what was best for the team,” Hills coach Connor Hagans said. “A great teammate who was unselfish and made others better by his contagious work ethic, a phenomenal athlete, player, and person who will go down as one of the greatest players to come through Half Hollow Hills.”

The two-time All-American heard the naysayers throughout his career, that if he wanted to win, he needed to go down Wolf Hill Road to St. Anthony’s (N.Y.).

“To stick with my best friends and trust my teammates and my coaches and knowing they would give it all for me and I would give my all for them, pushed me to work that much harder and do quite literally whatever I had to do to help us win,” Raio said.

That burning desire, and love for lacrosse were formed at an early age. Raio’s father, Nick, played at Half Hollow Hills East and was a goalie at Albany.

“He had a lacrosse stick in my hand before I could barely walk,” Raio said. “I'm forever grateful for what he's done for me.”

The two made an annual trek to championship weekend, dreaming of the day Anthony would be on the big stage.

Now, after a storybook senior season and a historic high school career, Raio is off to North Carolina, and he’ll go there with close friend and Team 91 teammate Gary Merrill.

“It’s a special thing to have a connection like that with Gary. I’ve been playing with him since I was in third or fourth grade,” Raio said. “That chemistry is just going to continue on through college, and I think we're setting up for having a super successful college career.”