Anthony Noto is a standout midfielder from the ADVNC San Francisco and NDP ‘24 teams who will play at Brown University, starting this coming Fall.
Noto comes from an athletic background. His father, Anthony, was an outstanding linebacker on the U.S. Military Academy football team. His three older sisters, Marissa (University of Pennsylvania,) Gabbie (Stanford,) and Ellie (Notre Dame), all played or are currently playing college lacrosse.
“My dad put a stick in my hands back when I was three years old,” said the younger Anthony Noto. “I started playing in the backyard with my three older sisters. We were always playing.”
Anthony played lacrosse with his sisters from a young age.
“They were tough on him,” recalled Anthony’s mom, Kristin Noto.
Anthony spent the first part of his childhood in Darien, Connecticut. “Anthony played baseball, hockey and lacrosse in Darien,” said Kristin Noto. “But because of his sisters’ influence, Anthony always had a lacrosse stick with him. It was fun because the girls had to figure out the boys sticks and Anthony figured out the girls sticks.”
The family moved to the Bay Area when Anthony was nine years old. “I started playing for the Firehawks rec league team when I got to California,” said Anthony. “That was the first time I played lacrosse for an actual team. I made some good friends through that. But I wasn’t as good as most of those kids. They had all played on a real team for awhile already. I liked lacrosse, but it was tough.”
“When we moved, he lost out on playing hockey,” said the older Anthony Noto. “It took him awhile to find that same level of competition and camaraderie. But he eventually found it in lacrosse, and once he did, he really thrived.”
After a couple of years on the Firehawks, Anthony tried out for ADVNC. “ADVNC really helped me,” Anthony said. “It was a big step up in competition. I wanted to compete. My sisters all instilled that in me. They made me super competitive. And that became a core part of who I am. So playing for ADVNC, being able to compete with and against better players in practice and against better teams in games, really helped me. It helped me grow and become more passionate about lacrosse.”
Anthony in the early days with ADVNC.
“When he found ADVNC, Anthony was still pretty new to town, and like he said, wasn’t as polished of a lacrosse player as some of the other kids on the team,” said Anthony’s father. “But Chris Rotelli and Mo Ryan told him he could join the team as a practice player until he got more up to speed and more comfortable with lacrosse. They saw his potential and athleticism, and were willing to invest their time in him before he was ready to take on something bigger. They put him in the right position to succeed, and that built up his confidence as well as his teammates’ confidence in him. Their willingness to invest in him in an atypical way, gave Anthony a great on-ramp. Without that, he may not have made the commitment to ADVNC, and ultimately may not have gone on to have the success in lacrosse that he’s had.”
Through this time, Anthony also played football. But as he got to high school at Sacred Heart Prep, lacrosse became his top sport. “A lot of my SHP and ADVNC teammates were starting to pull away from me in terms of lacrosse accomplishments,” said Anthony. “Seeing guys like Ben Ramsey get recruited to play at an amazing place like Notre Dame, inspired me. I really started working harder at lacrosse at that time. He played the same position as me. He was the best player on our team. A really gritty player. I wanted to be like him.”
“He had great mentors at SHP and ADVNC,” said Kristin. “The culture of ADVNC, where the older players take the younger players under their wing, was big for Anthony. That culture extends up through the coaches. It made for a comfortable environment for Anthony to grow and eventually thrive.”
When September 1, 2022 came around, Anthony wasn’t sure what to expect from his college recruitment. “I was super nervous,” Anthony said. “There were a lot of really good players on my ADVNC team, and I wasn’t sure if I was in that group or not. I thought the really good colleges would only take the very best kids from our team, and that it would be difficult for me to find a spot. I was nervous. But I got a few calls and texts that first day, and that was big for me, because I didn’t know if anyone would find me at all.”
Anthony leaned on his high school and ADVNC Coach, Chris Rotelli. “Coach Rotelli was very helpful and there for me, every step of the way,” Anthony said. “I had never talked to DI coaches before. I wasn’t sure if I should act formal or informal. I didn’t know what was OK to say and not to say. He really helped me with the nitty gritty details of it all. He also always had my back whenever coaches reached out to find out about me.”
Shortly, Anthony narrowed down his college list to three: Army, Penn and Brown. “I went to visit each one,” Anthony said. “I talked to all the coaches and I had a little journal with me where I took a lot of notes. After visiting each school, I compared all the aspects of one school to another .. and that did not help.”
“All three schools are great academic institutions,” said the elder Anthony Noto. “But of the three, Brown was the one he talked about the most, and wanted to go back to their prospect camp. He kept pushing us on that. And Kristin said when they visited Brown, Anthony was taking a lot of pictures, and that’s something he normally doesn’t do. So it seemed like there was a natural connection for him at Brown.”
“Ultimately, I decided to choose the school that felt the most like home,” said Anthony. “And that is Brown. The players at Brown have a really good brotherhood, similar to what I had with ADVNC. That is the place I want to be.”
“When he told us he was choosing Brown, I could really feel his excitement,” said Kristin Noto. “He went with his gut, and what he felt is right. He owned the decision and made it for the right reasons.”
Looking back at his journey and what got him here, Anthony has this advice for younger players who aspire to follow in his footsteps. “Don’t give up,” he said. “This takes a lot of hard work and determination. There will be dark moments. There will be lots of storms and battles you have to fight through. When I first started with ADVNC, I wasn’t that good at lacrosse. It was very hard. But the biggest thing is .. when all seems lost, and you seem like you’re on the bottom, work harder. You can achieve any goal, whether it’s lacrosse or anything else. You can do anything you want, but you have to grind through the dark days, and never give up.”
Kristin and Anthony Noto have the following advice for parents of young players who wish to play a sport in college. “There will be hard times and heartbreak,” said Kristin Noto. “But follow your kids where they want to go. The hard times are just part of the journey. Just keep moving forward. If it’s what they want, they will get there.”
“Be supportive of the kid’s goals,” said the older Anthony Noto. “When they have down moments and setbacks, just remind them of why they set their goal in the first place. If they aren’t putting in the hard work, remind them that they have to work hard to get there. Be constructive and focus on what it will take for them to get to their goal.”