TD Ierlan hit the field at Lake Placid last weekend, suiting up with his former youth lacrosse teammates from Victor, N.Y. Ierlan plays with his childhood teammates every year at the Lake Placid Summit Classic, but this time it brought a sense of peace during a whirlwind summer.

It’s been over two months since Ierlan’s Albany team fell to Yale in the NCAA final four over Memorial Day weekend. Ever since, his name has been one of the most talked-about in all of college lacrosse.

In his return to the competitive game, Ierlan was just happy to be on the field again.

“It was good to just go up and play again,” he said. “There was nothing off the field, or social media, anything like that.”

He's referring to the buzz that hit the lacrosse community after news came out that Ierlan was asking for his release from the Great Danes program. He received a full release and narrowed his choices to Cornell, where his brother Chayse is an incoming freshman, and Yale, the defending national champion. 

It took just under two weeks for the process to play out, but Ierlan decided to join a Yale program unaccustomed to accepting transfers, but certainly willing.

Now that the dust has settled on the offseason, Ierlan and Coach Andy Shay are getting excited for what’s to come as the Bulldogs look to defend a national title.

“When I stepped on Yale’s campus, it just felt like it fit right,” Ierlan said. “Even with my brother going to Cornell, [Yale] just felt right. It was probably the most difficult decision I had to make, hands down. The whole process was tough to come to grips with. Not being able to play [at Albany] is something I’ll be missing. I just had to make the decision at the end of the day. I'm happy I made it, but by no means will I not miss my friends.”

For Shay, a chance to get the nation’s top returning faceoff man with two more years of eligibility was something he couldn’t pass up. And he got references from current and former players to help in his decision.

“We knew a fair amount about him,” Shay said. “Talking to our guys, a lot of them know him well. Ben Reeves knows him from growing up. Ben implied to me that, obviously he’s a great faceoff guy, but he felt like he was a young man that would do really well in our culture. That’s something we keep an eye out for no matter what.”

Shay and his staff knew quickly that Ierlan was the type of player that fit Yale lacrosse. He had heard rumors that the Albany faceoff man was thinking of a transfer, but wasn’t sure whether he’d get a full release or a restricted release, the latter preventing him from coming to the Bulldogs as they were on the Great Danes schedule.

But after a few days, the news came out that Ierlan received his full release and was free to join any program. It did not take long for Shay to express his interest.

“I got my release and he was the first coach to call me,” Ierlan said. “He called me five minutes after it was done, and I didn’t have to reach out to them. He stayed up until one in the morning. He came all the way up to Upstate New York and visited the next day. He drove all the back at 9 p.m. He drove like 10 hours in one day to make it happen. The things he did to make it happen were pretty cool to see. He put a lot of effort in toward it.”

Incoming captain John Daniggelis called Ierlan to introduce himself — a conversation that lasted over three hours. Reeves texted back and forth with the fellow New York native.

Shay spoke with Ierlan and the Yale admissions office to make sure he was eligible to join the program. The rigorous coursework was a factor in Ierlan’s decision to transfer. He studied economics at Albany and recorded a 4.0 GPA last semester, according to the Democrat & Chronicle.

“I just knew [Albany] wasn’t the right fit for me anymore for a couple reasons,” he said. “It’s nothing against the program at Albany and the fans. There’s a full stadium of 5,000 people every game. We had just reached the program’s first final four. I was just looking for more of an educational experience. That was what motivated it. Pretty much off the bat, it had been down to Cornell or Yale.”

With multiple friends on the Yale team and his brother joining the Cornell program, Ierlan knew either situation would have been a positive one for him. But after visiting the Yale campus, he was won over.

In addition, Conor Mackie, Yale’s senior faceoff man that won 62.5 percent of his faceoffs in 2018, had graduated. Yale lost 94.7 of its faceoff output from last season, with incoming freshman Joseph Neuman hitting campus this fall.

In the end, Ierlan chose to join Yale in lieu of a reunion with his brother. Chayse Ierlan was disappointed, but he couldn’t help but up the ante as soon as he heard.

“As soon as I made the decision, he told me that they were going to beat us twice next year and twice my senior year,” Ierlan said of his little brother. “Then, he said I’m going to have to watch if he beats them two more times the following year.”

Ierlan said it was difficult to call Cornell coach Peter Milliman to share the news, who still had praise for the former Albany product.

“There’s no doubt he’s a really special talent,” Milliman said. “He’s a really great guy that works hard. He’s a kid I’m definitely not excited about game planning against.”

Now weeks past the decision, Ierlan is focused on enjoying the rest of his summer. He’ll head to Yale for the fall season later this month, joining a Bulldogs team that will look to shake the championship celebration and move forward.

Ierlan, who fell to Yale twice during the 2018 season, is also ready to continue his college career, this time in blue and white instead of purple and yellow.

He seems to already have a grasp for the make-up of the 2019 roster.

“I can’t wait,” he said. “We return a lot, but we also lose Ben Reeves, two d-middies, a defenseman. We lost a lot, so we have our work cut out for us. It’s a challenge that we are up for.”

And not surprisingly, Shay said the faceoff competition is open for the 2019 season.

“We have guys on our roster that have been waiting to play,” he said. “We have a freshman that is waiting to play, too. [Ierlan] was obviously a proven commodity at the college level. He is a competitor and is going to want to compete for that spot. A returning Second Team All-American is someone you have to take a look at. It’s not a plug and play situation.”