It’s hard to believe a freshman is one of the best high school lacrosse goalkeepers in the state of Washington. It’s even more difficult to believe that freshman picked up a lacrosse stick for the first time just three years ago.
It’s an unlikely scenario, but one that is true for Kamiak’s Joseph Prikhodko, who has helped lead Kamiak to an 11-1 season and a spot in the state tournament.
“Right when I picked up a stick I knew it was the sport for me,” Prikhodko said. “I just loved it right away. Our team didn’t have a goalie at the time, so I stepped up and it was pretty fun. I was just kind of natural at it.”
Kamiak hosts Bainbridge at 7 p.m. on Tuesday in the first round of the 16-team state tournament.
Though he is a freshman, Kamiak has come to depend on its goalkeeper to be one of the team’s leaders both for his on the field play and his leadership.
“He’s a foundational rock for our defense,” Kamiak head coach Michael Harlow said. “He gets everybody talking because he’s vocal and expects the same things out of his teammates. We know we can count on him when the big moments come. When we need a save, he makes those saves.”
Prikhodko started playing lacrosse in the sixth grade with a little encouragement from his friend Ben Barton, who is also a freshman for the Kamiak team this season. Barton started playing lacrosse because his dad had played in college and wanted more of his friends to pick up the sport. Prikhodko started as a midfielder, but moved temporarily to goalkeeper when the position opened up because of injury.
The moved proved to be not so temporary.
“He was really good, so he just stuck with it,” Barton said.
Expectations were high for Prikhodko entering high school, but Barton admits he didn’t expect the kind of success his friend has had.
“I knew in high school it would be a lot different,” Barton said. “It would be a lot harder shots from a lot closer up, so I thought he would still do well, but not this well.”
Even Prikhodko didn’t expect the success he’s had this season.
“I did not think I would have that big of an impact,” he said. “I thought I could battle for my starting spot and I was going to put in a lot of work this season, but I did not think I would have this big of an impact.”
In league games, Prikhodko’s save percentage is .681, which is fourth in the state. He has seen significantly more shots and played more minutes than the three goalies above him on that list. He has allowed just five goals per game, also very high among the state’s top goalkeepers.
“I watched him in the Mukilteo youth program and knew he would be something special,” Harlow said. “He’ll step in front of everything. He makes more leg saves than I’ve ever seen and I’ve played with All-American goalies, so it’s pretty cool to see a freshman at that level doing this.”
Harlow played college lacrosse at Western Washington University.
Much in the same way that Barton turned Prikhodko onto lacrosse, Prikhodko helped his older brother Andrey find the sport two years ago. Andrey learned the game in his freshman year and as a junior is now in his second season as Joseph’s teammate with Kamiak.
“About a year ago I was just practicing non-stop every single day and he was seeing me do it and I just told him, ‘let’s go play catch,’” Joseph said. “He picked up a stick and he just loved it right when he picked it up.”
Andrey said catching and throwing were the hardest things for him to pick up, but he quickly became more comfortable with the sport — and he loves being teammates with his brother.
“It’s really cool,” Andrey said. “It’s really cool to see him progress and he helps me and encourages me when I mess up. Sometimes he lends a helping hand because he’s been playing a lot more and a lot longer than I have, so he sees stuff that I don’t.”
The lacrosse field is a place both brothers feel at home, but their parents have only called the United States home for the past two decades. Both parents moved from Ukraine a few years before Andrey was born, but have been nothing but supportive as their kids have found success in lacrosse.
“It’s been a new experience for them,” Joseph Prikhodko said of his parents. “They’re really happy and proud that we’ve been playing and they’re just happy that we’re doing something that we love.”
Both parents are fluent in English, but speak Russian as a first language. Joseph said English is his and his brother’s first language, but both are fluent in Russian and speak it frequently — sometimes even at practice.
“That’s just them being them, but nobody really understands what they’re saying or what they’re doing,” Harlow said. “(Joseph) tends to more yell at his brother at practice in English in front of everybody because he wants to put him on the spot.”
Joseph, who maintains a grade point average above 3.5, is well on his way to a successful high-school lacrosse career, which he hopes leads to a Division-I NCAA lacrosse scholarship.
He’s already got the school picked out.
“I would like to play Division-I lacrosse at the University of Pennsylvania,” he said.
If Penn doesn’t work out, Prikhodko clarified that any Division-I school will do. Harlow said if Prikhodko plays the way he has this season for the remainder of his high-school career, he’ll get his choice.
“Him playing the way that he’s playing now, if he keeps it up he can have his choice of schools that he could go to,” Harlow said.
For now, the confident freshman is focused on trying to lead his team to a win over Bainbridge — and hopefully beyond.
“I want to win state and I think we have a really good chance to do it,” Prikhodko said.
“That’s my plan.”
Aaron Lommers covers prep sports for The Herald. Follow him on Twitter at @aaronlommers and contact him at alommers@heraldnet.com.
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