Tommy DeLuca is a 2016 graduate of Apex High School. He was a three-year player on the Varsity Lacrosse team and was brought up for the 2013 playoff run as a freshman. During Tommy’s career, Apex would compile a total record of 76 wins and only 8 losses, as well as playing in State Championships his freshman, sophomore, and junior years, while being ranked in the top 5 in the state for four consecutive seasons. Tommy played in two of those Championship games in 2014 and 2015. He also earned multiple All-Conference, All-Region, and All-State awards, with potentially his best award coming in his senior year, when Coach John Hayden gave him the “Spirit of the Stick” award for the most valuable player that season. A unique player in Apex Lacrosse history, Tommy DeLuca could do it all. He led the team in caused turnovers and ground balls during his career. His remarkable skill set also found him doing double duty at the attack position during his senior season. Tommy would start the game as a defenseman and would sub off throughout the game to enter back on as an attackman. In his limited time on attack, Tommy scored 33 goals, which was good for the second most on the team. Perhaps his most important contribution as a player was as a sort of “coach” on the field. Tommy was an extension of the coaching staff at the defensive end, making all the calls and running the show for everything on that end of the field. Tommy was also voted a team captain for his senior year.
Another of Tommy’s great contributions during his high school (and college) years was the amount of time he spent working with younger players in the area. He was always present and willing to pay it forward in developing our younger players and serving as a role model for them.
Tommy’s playing career did not end with high school, though. He went on to be a four-year starter at Division 3 powerhouse Cabrini University in suburban Philadelphia. Tommy would go on to be the all-time leader in caused turnovers at Cabrini with 173, and third all-time in ground balls with 255. In 2019, while setting the single-season record for caused turnovers with 61, and a team record of 22-2, Tommy helped lead Cabrini to a National Championship playing in front of over 20,000 fans at Lincoln Financial Field in Philadelphia (home of the Eagles). Tommy was named the Division 3 “National Defenseman of the Year” that year. Ready to defend their title in his senior year, the NCAA season was suspended after just five games. Able to return for a 5th year in 2021, he helped lead Cabrini to another conference championship, helping set an NCAA record with their 160th consecutive conference win and their 21st consecutive conference championship. That season, Tommy earned his fourth consecutive First Team All-Conference, second Conference Defenseman of the year, as well as being named First Team All-American and National Defenseman of the year for the second year in a row. Throughout his time at Cabrini, similar to his success here at Apex, the Cavaliers had a record of 71 wins and only 13 losses, not once dropping out of the top 10 in the nation, with Tommy helping lead the way throughout his entire career, two of which he was voted as a captain of the team.
Upon graduation, Tommy served as the defensive coordinator for Cabrini in 2022 and 2023 and was named the Head Coach of the program for the 2024 season after the announcement that the school would be closing at the end of that school year. In all of those seasons, Cabrini would go undefeated in their conference, win their Conference Championship, and go on to the NCAA playoffs. Following his time at Cabrini, Coach DeLuca stayed in the Philadelphia area, becoming the associate head coach at Eastern University.
