Fellow senior co-captain Mike Allison is generous in praising his teammate of the past four seasons. "Alexei is a true leader in that he has utmost respect for his fellow teammates and has a stong commitment to personal development," said Allison. "He sets a path for others that is challenging, yet the way in which he conducts himself inspires others to go down that path along with him."
"I have been honored to play with a player of his caliber for four years. He is a large part of why this Amherst lacrosse team went from the basement of the NESCAC to achieving national recognition in just a few years," concluded Allison.
Kudla came to Amherst from the Landon School, a D.C.-area prep school where lacrosse is part of the school's culture and the men's team is perennially rife with talent. In Kudla's class alone, eight of his teammates went on to play Div. I lacrosse at schools like Cornell, Maryland and Johns Hopkins Universities.
Kudla, who was named an Academic All-American his senior year in high school, had other plans in mind. The First-Team All-League and First-Team All-County defender wanted to attend a school where he could play multiple sports and get the best possible education.
As a biology major who is also pre-med, Kudla has fulfilled his collegiate goals while Amherst has fulfilled his academic and athletic expectations. Most recently, the senior finished an honors thesis on the feeding behaviors of female hummingbirds.
In addition to his contributions on the lacrosse field, Kudla played soccer his freshman year and was a member of the squash team his junior and senior years. He stopped soccer despite his love for the sport because he chose to put his academics first, and was worried about his lab-heavy class load. Nevertheless, Kudla was unable to remain a non-athlete for two-thirds of the year, so he joined the squash team despite having never picked up a racquet before coming to college.
However, lacrosse has always been Kudla's true calling. He has been a four-year starting defenseman, and this year he started all 12 of the team's games. Having the endurance and strength to compete for entire games at a time is Kudla's forte.
In addition, his leadership has been key to Amherst's success. As a captain, Kudla split the Amherst squad into three groups in the offseason. These mini-squads trained together for months before a final inter-squad competition for events like distance running, sprinting, lifting and body-fat percentage.
Besides epitomizing the term "student-athlete," Kudla also seems to have his priorities straight on the field. "It is important to play with heart, and to play hard, but mostly I just want our team to have fun and enjoy playing lacrosse," said Kudla.