BELLEVUE, Wash. – It’s a natural question to ask a promising student-athlete in his sophomore season. But after spending time with Bellevue High School’s Augie Fratt, it’s easy to understand why, with plenty of playing – and growing time ahead of him, the lacrosse midfielder verbally committed this December as an underclassman to play lacrosse for NCAA Div. I Boston University.

And more importantly, the value the state champion places on realistic expectations, advice from others and commitment to his team.

Fratt is among a number of underclassmen from Washington state high schools being discovered by NCAA lacrosse coaches as they look to untapped states for high school lacrosse talent.

“I’m very excited to play for BU and coach Ryan Polley,” said the 5-11, 163-pound athletic playmaker who caught the attention a number of NCAA coaches this past November while playing at a national recruiting event in Philadelphia.

With 10 NCAA lacrosse programs already on his list, it was the interest of the first-year BU program and the attention of Terriers assistant Drew Kelleher, following a visit to the urban Boston campus in November, that helped Fratt nail down an early commitment.

“I was offered a spot after my visit to campus,” said Fratt who saw an opportunity for rare Division I playing time with a first-year program that registered just two wins in its inaugural Patriot League season last spring.

Fratt ultimately chose BU from a final list of three Div. I schools that included Fairfield, and Richmond, before calling Polley with his decision to go with the burgeoning Terriers program. But it wasn’t just lacrosse, or his interest in studying at a top-tier undergraduate business program that motivated the 3.5 GPA student-athlete.

“My sister influenced me a lot in know that I wanted to play a Division I sport,” Fratt said, reflecting on a conversation he had earlier in the year with his sister Izzy, a 2014 Cornell graduate and Ivy League field hockey standout.

“ ‘It’s worth it,’ she told me. It’ll help you get into the best school possible and meet lifelong friends’,” he said.

That was all Fratt needed. With the decision behind him and a few words of wisdom from the BU coaching staff, Fratt turned to building on what turned out to be a confidence-making freshman season and strengthening his own game.

Already an impact player after the Wolverines’ run to a third consecutive Washington state championship last spring, Fratt ranked eight in scoring for Bellevue in 2014 connecting for 14 goals and an assist while grabbing six ground balls.

“I felt really great about my play in the playoffs,” he said after scoring a natural hat trick, Fratt’s second three-goal performance of the season, that put the Wolverines in early command of their eventual 8-7 state tournament semifinal win over rival Eastside Catholic.

“That game gave me a lot of confidence to know that I was making an impact at the highest level in Washington,” said Fratt who went on to contribute a goal in the Wolverines 8-0 shutout of Issaquah to secure the Washington state championship.

But it’s not just scoring that makes Fratt an asset to the Wolverines program.

“He’s willing to give up personal things for the good of the team,” said Bellevue head coach John Baumann recalling Fratt’s decision last December to stay at home and play in the Northwest wind and rain for Bellevue in a fall-ball game after his parents booked travel for him to compete the same weekend in sunny Las Vegas.

“I ended up not going so I could stay back at home and help my Bellevue team. That was more important,” Fratt said.

Looking ahead to his sophomore season, Fratt is focused on working on guidance from the BU coaching staff and pitching in to get the Wolverines back to the state championship game.

“Right now I’m working on starting. But I also need to work on becoming a better two-way middie,” he said, eyeing six midfield spots vacated by Bellevue seniors as a part of a graduating class of 12 last spring.

“I’ll get there,” he said. “I know, there’s a lot of room for improvement.”