This story appears in the January 2020 edition of US Lacrosse Magazine. Don't get the mag? Head to USLacrosse.org to subscribe.

Much of Brendan Hoffman’s lacrosse career has been about what milestone lay ahead.

As a high schooler, he focused on college prospects.

As an underclassman at Williams College, his attention turned to how he could add muscle, become more of a distributor and diversify his game.

And even this offseason, after the Ephs advanced to the NCAA semifinals and recorded the most wins in a season (18) in program history, Hoffman honed in on his shooting accuracy and limiting his turnovers.

Each progression has built toward what could be a special senior season for the Darien, Conn., native who earned first-team All-American and All-NESCAC honors in 2019.

But Hoffman, who tries to emulate Team USA and PLL star Tom Schreiber, isn’t one to harp on his own plaudits — even if last year included a breakout 74 points (55 goals, 19 assists). 

“The coaching staff, they established some new schemes that catered to our individual talents,” Hoffman said. “We’re fortunate to have so many weapons in the offense that you can’t game-plan on one guy.”

That wasn’t always the case at Williams, though. The Ephs had only qualified for the NCAA tournament once (2008) before last year. They were a solid NESCAC program, but the conference largely was led by others. Middlebury won three straight national titles from 2000-02, Tufts won three of its own between 2010 and 2015, Wesleyan won in 2018, Amherst fell to Cabrini in the final last year and Bates had an undefeated regular season in 2017.

But now, Williams will be at the forefront of that NESCAC conversation, with Hoffman a driving force behind an offense that returns almost entirely intact. In terms of point production alone, the Ephs bring back players accounting for 99.4 percent of their 524 total points from last spring.

At 6-foot-6 and 205 pounds, Hoffman has a Division I body composition that opposing defenders struggle to contain.

“He’s so tough to defend since he’s a double threat with both hands,” Williams coach George McCormack said. “He took his game to the next level last year by being able to go both ways with the ball. It added some unpredictability.”

Hoffman isn’t the only dominant midfielder turning heads before 2020 — Lynchburg senior Kevin Rogers, Amherst senior Matt Solberg and Stevenson senior Ethan Christensen all come to mind — but his supporting cast could elevate things. Midfield mates John Hincks and Jared Strauss are formidable. Attackman Jake Haase, the 2019 NESCAC Rookie of the Year, could again challenge for 100 points.

Hoffman is one of five captains, which is even more important at a NESCAC program, since coaches can’t officially work with their players until Feb. 15. For a season that starts in early March and could run through Memorial Day weekend, there’s heightened importance placed on players as leaders.

Hoffman’s older brother, Riley, was a senior captain when Brendan was a freshman. A defenseman and long-stick midfielder, Riley Hoffman now is a second lieutenant in the Marine Corps. He remembers fondly their one-on-one battles in practice that mimicked playing lacrosse at home. Riley Hoffman has taken even greater stock in seeing his little brother’s class raise the profile of Williams lacrosse nationally.

“To see the trajectory under good coaching, guys who took the risk and stayed with the team through some tough times, that’s special,” Riley said. “We always knew Brendan’s class could be that one to do it.”

The Ephs aren’t paying too much attention to the buzz or hype. Williams upset RIT in double overtime in last year’s quarterfinals, only to fall to Amherst in the final four. That loss is still fresh for Hoffman.

“Our team motto is, ‘Just us, just now,’” Hoffman said. “Anything less than a national championship would be a disappointment.”