Look up the word "nifty" in Webster's dictionary and you'll come across the following definition: "First-rate in quality or appearance; elegant, refined, fashionable, stylish."
But hang around Duke Lacrosse Stadium long enough, and you're sure to hear the word used in a slightly different context, in reference to senior attackman Seth `Nifty' McCulloch.
"It started with the senior class of two years ago," McCulloch, a 6-0, 170-pound native of Santa Fe, New Mexico, said. "There was a hockey player whose nickname was "Nifty," because he didn't play like all the other players. He played totally out of hand. He didn't have any idea what he was doing, but it worked. That's how I got the nickname, because I'm not too sure what I'm doing out there."
"It's kind of a contradiction," Duke head coach Mike Pressler, who has presided over McCulloch's collegiate career for the past three years, said. "He doesn't do anything smooth. He's like a bull in a china shop. He's everything but Nifty."
He's also everything but your typical lacrosse player. McCulloch's height and weight put him among the smallest players on the field. His hometown of Santa Fe is both miles and worlds away from the nation's mid-Atlantic lacrosse hotbeds.
His alma mater -- Connecticut's Salisbury School -- is anything but a traditional lacrosse powerhouse. And his style of play? That's the most unorthodox thing of all.
"It's an advantage not playing like other people," McCulloch said. "They can't guess what you do, and they can't think what you're gonna do, because I don't even know what I'm gonna do until it actually happens."
It's no surprise, really, that McCulloch doesn't fit the classic lacrosse mold. He grew up playing soccer, and chose Salisbury for it's highly regarded soccer program, not for lacrosse. He finished his soccer career there with both all-state and all-Western New England honors.
And to hear him talk of his experiences with college recruiting is to hear him mention the names of some of the West Coast's biggest soccer schools San Diego, Pepperdine, and Stanford among them. Lacrosse was never first in his mind, or first in his heart.
Since coming to Duke, however, McCulloch has grown into a full-fledged lacrosse star. His freshman year, he played in 11 of the Blue Devils 13 games, earning a starting attack job for the last half of the season. He recorded eight goals and three assists, tops among all freshman that year.
Seth's sophomore season brought more of the same. He saw action in each of Duke's 12 games, and again led his class with 12 goals and five assists. Last year, although he still led all Blue Devil juniors in points, his statistics showed little improvement.
His value as a player, however, lies far outside the lines of any stat sheet.
"His work rate on the field is probably the best I've ever coached," Pressler said. "He's constantly in motion. He plays the game full tilt for 60 minutes. If a kid trips over his feet and drops the ball, Seth's gonna be there. A kid gets hit by a bolt of lightning and drops the ball, Seth's gonna be there to pick it up. He plays every play like it's his last."
Ironically, many of Seth's plays have nearly been his last. With his undersized frame and reckless abandon on the field, he is extremely susceptible to injury, and over the past four years he has fought through everything from the everyday bumps and bruises to a broken finger, a broken jaw, and two dislocated shoulders. The scars on his body run from head to toe, but to his coach, they're just another testament to his dedication.
"The kid has no fear for his body," Pressler said, recounting McCulloch's many visits to the training room. "He is, right now, just one major injury. He kind of waddles up to practice because he's so stiff and sore, and it takes him half an hour to get all the kinks out. But he doesn't complain about it. He has a tremendous pain tolerance.
This year, for the first time in his career, McCulloch has remained injury-free, and his stats have clearly reflected his improved health. He currently leads the team in goals -- registering 23 tallies through the season's first nine games -- and is tied for the team lead in points with 29.
Add his honors as Duke's Player of the Game in the season opener against Stony Brook, and his Atlantic Coast Conference Player of the Week honors for the season's first week, and you have a pretty impressive resume -- one that, according to Pressler, has All-ACC, possibly even All-America, written all over it.
But Seth will probably never notice.
"He's so unselfish," Pressler said. "If you went up to him right now and asked him how many goals and assists he had, he couldn't tell you. He couldn't tell you he's our leading scorer. I told him that the other day, and he didn't know. Seth wouldn't care if he had four goals a game or he had no goals a game, as long as Duke wins and Duke is successful."
Where that selflessness is perhaps most evident is in his attitude towards his teammates. As the only senior member of the otherwise young and inexperienced Duke attack, McCulloch has assumed this year the role of teacher and on-the-field coach for his fellow attackmen.
"I think with Scott Harrison, Ken Fasanaro, and Bob Carpenter, I take more of a role of being their friend and helping them out by keeping them loose," McCulloch said. "I think it's important to not put too much pressure on those guys. I know what it's like to be young and to have someone put that much pressure on you. They don't need that. What they need is to be loose and to have someone that understands and just has fun with them out there."
But still, there's no arguing with statistics -- McCulloch has now become a force as a scorer as well. With the graduation last spring of All-America attackman Joe Matassa, the Blue Devils were faced this season with the task of replacing his team-leading 30 goals, and his threatening presence at the offensive end of the field.
Enter McCulloch, who has picked up right where Matassa left off, but sees scoring as just one role in a long list of many he must fulfill.
"Last year, Joe and I were really good friends," McCulloch said of his former teammate. "During the game, he'd say, `Gimme the rock, gimme the ball, I wanna go to the goal.' So you'd do it, because he was an incredible player.
"This year, we don't have anyone like that. Everyone has to step up individually, and I just try to help the team wherever needed -- whether I need to play harder, play better, score more, or just help out the younger kids."
McCulloch will graduate in May with degrees in both history and sociology, as well as a certificate in Markets and Management Studies. He hopes to remain close to athletics with a career in sports marketing -- possibly with the U.S. Olympic Committee -- and to someday return to the field, this time on the sidelines.
"Down the road, I'd like to coach," he said. "But I don't think I'd coach lacrosse, I think I'd coach soccer. I'd really like to go back to soccer -- that's always been my first sport, and I love it so much."
So he will leave Duke, and he will leave behind the sport of lacrosse. But he has certainly left his mark, on the team, on the attackmen, and especially on his coach.
"Seth, of all the players in 10 years of coaching I've come across is truly special," Pressler said. "In a lot of ways."
Truly special, truly first-rate, and truly nifty indeed.
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