"It is very achievable," said Kelly of the team's goals to win another league title and a third NCAA tournament berth. Just about anything would seem so, though, to the Corning, New York, native who has emerged ready to lead the Stags to new heights after a nearly fatal bout with a bacterial infection that wiped out his freshman season.

Kelly's story began four years ago at the U.S. Naval Academy, where he was to be a member of the lacrosse squad. A few short days into the indoctrination period, or mini-boot camp, staged before classes began, Kelly started to experience pain and tightness in his chest. He sought medical attention and was told that he most likely had strained a pectoral muscle doing pushups.

Kelly, still in discomfort, managed to finish the three-week long boot camp, but on the first morning of classes, he awakened unable to breathe. Kelly was rushed to the hospital where medical personnel determined that he had somehow come into contact with bacteria that caused pneumonia. An infection had developed from the pneumonia and caused fluid to build in one lung. Initially, the infection was treated with antibiotics; however, three days into his hospitalization, Kelly was rushed into surgery after a nurse was unable to wake him after he had fallen asleep.

"At that point I was still running a fever and I guess I fell asleep and my body started to go downhill," Kelly said. "Eventually, they got me awake. Doctors talked to my parents and told them they had to do emergency surgery because if I fell asleep again, I probably wasn't going to wake up."

Kelly spent almost three weeks in the hospital. Once he was released, he returned home to upstate New York, where his recovery hit a snag. While he expected his lungs to be sore, he could take in air only to a certain point. A visit to his family doctor revealed that a crust had begun to form over his lung and as a result, a second, more in-depth surgery was required to remove the crust.

It wasn't until he was faced with the second operation that Kelly became truly concerned about his athletics future.

"My first thought was whether I was going to be active again. My second thought was sports," he said. "I was asking the doctors a million questions and they really didn't know yet. They said if all went well then eventually I'd be active again."

As it turned out, all went very well. Kelly made his way through a slow but steady year-long recovery period. He advanced from simply being able to stay awake all day to being able to walk down the street to finally being able to resume working out at the gym, sometimes twice a day, to rebuild his endurance. Along with an excellent family support system, a strong desire to return to lacrosse drove him, but so did a need to reassure himself that he would be OK. During that time, Kelly was released from his commitment to Navy and ultimately decided to transfer to Fairfield.

Now, as Kelly enters his senior season, most of the time his focus is squarely on the future and how, as co-captain of the 2006 Stags, he can help Fairfield lacrosse reach the next level. But by his own admission, there are moments when he takes a brief trip into the past and remembers lying in a hospital making deals with God in exchange for another chance to practice, compete and enjoy the camaraderie of his teammates. Kelly also has taken the time to reflect on what he has learned throughout his ordeal. He said he has lost the feeling of invincibility that comes with being young, but he also has become very philosophical.

Kelly's advice to others facing potentially overwhelming circumstances is simple, but powerful.

"Never lose hope," he said. "What's meant to be is meant to be. I'm not going to say that everything is always going to come out OK, because it's not. I was very lucky. But if you give everything you have, then you can't ever question it."

Kelly is a mechanical engineering major at Fairfield, where he also plans to earn an MBA in management. Eventually, he hopes to establish his own engineering firm.