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MALVERN >> A fierce competitor his whole life, Lucca DiBartolomeo blossomed into one of the nation’s best high school lacrosse players – as well as a competitive beast — after going through and conquering cancer early in his high school years at Malvern Prep.
“I gained a new perspective on a lot of things about striving through adversity,” said DiBartolomeo, the 2024 Daily Local News’ high school lacrosse Player of the Year.
“Lucca went through a lot and missed an entire school year, and freshman year is a formative one,” added Friars’ head coach Matt Mackrides. “Fortunately he was able to beat cancer. It drove him closer to his brothers and his family. And it gave him the motivation to be the best player he could be.”
A Malvern resident, DiBartolomeo just finished a monster senior season, earning All-League, All-State and All-American honors along the way. He scored nine goals and dished out a dozen assists, which is impressive for his position: long stick midfielder. But he contributed so much more.
“He’s the best LSM in the country and it’s not very close,” Mackrides said. “He was a constant disrupter with an incredible motor. And his stick was incredible this season with knock downs and caused turnovers.
“It’s because of his tenacity. He has just the right amount of physicality. He is all in, all of the time. He just doesn’t know any other way. Even in drills – he’s full speed.”
But DiBartolomeo’s story truly begins in the fall of 2019, when he was a freshman playing on the Malvern Prep football squad.
“I went to the trainer because I was having difficulty sleeping, and I was very fatigued. It was getting hard to just carry my backpack,” DiBartolomeo recalled. “I was told to go to the doctor, and he told me that nothing’s wrong.
“But I knew something was wrong.”
When the symptoms persisted, he made a second trip to the doctor for an MRI. Several days later, sitting in his basement, his mom, Sharon, took a call from the doctor and relayed the stunning news.
“She told me I had non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma,” DiBartolomeo said.
It is a cancer that develops in the lymph system. That same day he rushed to Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia.
“A lot was going through my mind,” DiBartolomeo acknowledged. “I didn’t know what the future held and I was confused because it happened so fast. I was scared because everybody in my family was scared.”
Despite the uncertainty, DiBartolomeo embraced the CHOP treatment plan that included surgery and three rounds of chemotherapy. He wound up losing 15-20 pounds and most of his hair.
“It was hard to eat because everything tasted like chemicals. I was vomiting constantly,” DiBartolomeo said.
“But I was always looking forward to getting out and back on the field and my friends at school. It took almost a year to get back where I was. It definitely lit a fire in me because I realized that nobody is guaranteed every moment.”
His condition was so dire and the treatment so involved, DiBartolomeo missed a lot of school work and he wound up having to redo his freshman year. There was a silver lining, however, as he was now in the same grade as his younger brothers Peri and Roman, who are defensive midfielders and fraternal twins.
“It’s been awesome,” he said. “It’s just made our bond stronger.”
Playing, perhaps, the most ambitious schedule of any high school team in the nation, Malvern Prep went 21-3 overall this spring, but the Friars placed second in the Inter-Ac standings to another powerhouse: Haverford School.
“I like to play tall, fast and smart,” said the 6-foot, 180-pounder. “When I was a freshman I had more penalties and whatnot. As a senior, things slowed down for me. Picking up ground balls is a huge part of my game. I like to get the ball and push transition.”
Heading into his final high school season, DiBartolomeo had a goal to become more of an offensive-minded weapon, both in scoring and pushing the pace. The idea was to be more versatile, and that’s exactly what happened.
“Where Lucca elevated his game the most this season was in transition, going from defense to offense, and his ability to put the ball in the net and be more of an offensive threat,” Mackrides said.
“He is an exceptional young man. He is quiet by nature but he’s extremely loud on the field with how he plays.”
After playing so many games alongside his brothers, Lucca decided he wanted it to continue in college. Ranked as the 27th player in the nation among all seniors, he had his pick of lacrosse powers across the country. And when Penn State made an offer to all three DiBartolomeo brothers back in the fall of 2022, it was a no-brainer.
“We all want to play lacrosse in college together – that was a huge emphasis for us,” Lucca said. “There were a good number of schools that reached out to just me. I told them ‘thanks but no thanks.’
“There is a huge pipeline from Malvern to Penn State. It just felt very comfortable, and the plan the coaching staff had for us was what we were looking for.”
The prestigious All-Inter-Ac Team was announced in mid-May, and Haverford standout Connor Nolan (a Duke commit) was named the league’s MVP. But DiBartolomeo was a unanimous first team selection.
“All of the coaches (in the Inter-Ac) agree that Lucca was the best player in our league,” Mackrides pointed out. “They say you go as your best player goes, and Lucca never had a bad day.”
