Athlete of the week: Griffin Foley

SPRINGFIELD, Mass. (WWLP) - Cathedral's Griffin Foley is a three sport star. Foley plays soccer, hockey and lacrosse for the Panthers. The sport he picked up last, may end up being his best. Foley is the 22News athlete of the week.

"The overall confidence of the program has improved", says Foley.

Cathedral has already surpassed it's win total from last season. The Panthers are 7-1 this season, they only won four games last year. One of the reasons is Griffin Foley. Foley has scored 22 goals and has 40 points through the first eight games.

"I have to attribute most of my success to my teammates because without them I definitely would not be scoring as many goals as I am", says Foley.

Foley switched positions this season.  He went from being a midfielder to playing attack.  Foley works behind the net, in what is called the 'X' area. Foley has become an 'X' factor for Cathedral.

"It's almost like a quarterback in football", says Foley.  He adds, "It's definitely more of a feeder (passer), but definitely gets the chance to score a goal if you can."

The Cathedral junior plays hockey and soccer, but he only picked up a lacrosse stick a few years ago. Foley says lacrosse and hockey have plenty of similarities.

"Stick skills and the overall hitting of the sport, it's an easy transition", says Foley.

The Panthers are transitioning from a team that gets beat to one of the teams to beat in Western Mass. Foley and the Panthers have high, but realistic expectations this season.

"For sure the playoffs, we've only made it once as a program, so playoffs is always the goal, and hopefully we can win the Western Mass championship", says Foley.