Drake Porter joined the Rutgers men's lacrosse coaching staff in the fall of 2024. In his role as an assistant coach, Porter will work with the team's specialists, including the goalkeepers and faceoff men as well as assist with all the day-to-day operations of the program.
In Porter's first season mentoring RU's specialists, he coached two All-Americans. Goalkeeper Cardin Stoller was named an Honorable Mention All-American by three different publications, and was a First Team All-Big Ten and All-ECAC selection and was the ECAC Defensive Player of the Year. Stoller was 6th in the nation in goals-against-average (8.85) and 11th in save percentage (56.4%).
Faceoff man Matthew Paolatto was named an Honorable Mention All-American by the Inside Lacrosse media voting. Paolatto was 17th in nation and 2nd in Big Ten in faceoff winning percentage (59.2%), and 18th in nation and 3rd in Big Ten in ground balls per game (6.19). He was selected to play in pro lacrosse after being signed by the PLL's Whipsnakes. The 2025 season was highlighted by a win over No. 2 Maryland, the highest ranked win in program history and the first win over the Terps since 1980.
Porter joined the Scarlet Knights staff from Messiah University in Mechanicsburg, Pa., where Porter had been on staff as the team's defensive coordinator and goalkeeper coach since 2022. Porter coached the team's defensive group and goalkeepers, while working with the team's clearing, transition, riding and man-down units. With Porter on staff, Messiah qualified for its first conference semifinal since 2019, with three defenders being named all-conference, and he also coached the conference Rookie of the Year. With Porter's coaching, the Falcons improved from 8-10 in 2022 to posting double-digit wins each of the past seasons, going 23-13 overall in the past two years. Porter helped boost dramatic improvement in the team's goals-against-average, save percentage, and clearing percentage.
Porter also served as Head of High School Boys Development with Goaliesmith, working with some of the top high school and collegiate goalkeepers. Porter led film sessions, implemented drills and coached technique for these goalkeepers, while also working at camps throughout the country and mentoring high school goalkeepers in the recruiting process.
From 2021 to 2022, Porter was the goalkeeper coach and defensive assistant at Loyola Blakefield, a prep school in Towson, Maryland. He was tasked with goalkeeper development and full team transition concepts.
A native of Ontario, Canada, Porter played his collegiate lacrosse at Syracuse University. A decorated collegiate player, Porter played with the Orange from 2017 to 2021. A team captain and Senior CLASS Award Finalist in his final season, Porter was a Tewaaraton Award Watch List selection in 2021, Second Team All-American and Scholar All-American in 2020 and All-ACC selection in 2019. The goalkeeper finished his career with a save percentage of 53% and goals-against-average of 11.6. A starting goalkeeper for three seasons, Porter twice led the ACC in save percentage and was the school's Soladay Award winner in 2021.
Porter played professionally with the New York Atlas in 2023. He saw action in three games between the regular season and Champ Series, making 25 saves. He was a member of Team Canada's U-19 Silver Medal Squad and World Games Gold Medal Team in 2022 and also participated in Fall Classic Scrimmages from 2019 to 2023.
A 2020 graduate of Syracuse's Newhouse School of Public Communications, he was a two-time Dean's List honoree and a member of the ACC Academic Honor Roll and All-Academic team. He earned his Master's Degree in Higher Education with an emphasis on Athletic Leadership at Messiah.
