Kastner appeared in five games off the bench for Stanford in the 2024-25 season, grabbing two rebounds and earning one steal. Despite a limited number of statistics, Smith spoke highly of Kastner and his contributions.
“Cole is one of the best leaders I have ever coached,” Smith said. “He is hard working, thoughtful and incredibly intelligent.”
Even if he wasn’t playing many minutes, Kastner loved every second of his experience playing basketball for Stanford. His favorite memory was traveling to Chapel Hill and playing North Carolina in the Dean Smith Center and winning by one on a Jaylen Blakes jump shot with 1.5 seconds remaining. Kastner said knowing how hard Blakes had worked for that moment, while also having some former Virginia teammates travel to the game to support him, made for a “euphoric” moment.
It also helped him realize just how much “the people make the place.”
“I would say Virginia and Charlottesville and Stanford and Palo Alto are some of the most incredible places I’ve ever been in my entire life. I’m so fortunate to have ties to both of them,” he said. “But when I look at the relationships I made and the people I got to play these sports with and grind with and celebrate with and have some tough losses with, I care so much about all those people.”
Stanford’s season ended on March 23 with a two-point loss to Kent State in the second round of the NIT tournament. From that moment on, Kastner had a lacrosse stick in his hand every day in order to prepare for training camp with the Redwoods. He worked out with Virginia teammate Patrick McIntosh, who is also from Palo Alto, as well as former Redwood Joe Robertson, whom Kastner connected with through former Virginia teammate Connor Shellenberger.
Kastner was excited about getting back on the lacrosse field and teaming up with Jared Conners, Chris Merle and Charlie Bertrand, all of whom he played with at Virginia. He remembered being paired with Conners in the Virginia weight room during his freshman year and how Conners showed him how to attack the weights, what he needed to do to recover properly, and to set the bar high for his play on the field. He was looking forward to his mentorship once more.
The excitement level for Kastner joining California’s defense was high, and in the first couple days, he did not let anyone down.
“Having his athleticism and his presence in the lineup, we’re going to look forward to that,” Redwoods defensive coordinator Chris Collins said. “He had a phenomenal camp.”
During camp, Kastner learned a lot from Chris Fake about how to approach top offensive talents, though he did find a challenge early in camp going up against one of the Redwoods’ most decorated and physical offensive weapons.
“Anytime Dylan Molloy catches the ball at X and he’s starting to dodge to his right hand, and you’re going back there to approach him, that’s a pretty big ‘Welcome to the PLL moment,’” he said.
Despite the positive momentum he was having, he didn’t finish training camp healthy. He was placed on the physically unable to perform list with a hamstring issue; Kelly said Kastner wasn’t 100%, and there wasn’t a need to rush his recovery.
After sitting out the team’s first three games of the year, Kastner made his highly anticipated debut during what was Homecoming Weekend for both the Redwoods and Kastner in California. His mom, dad and girlfriend were there in San Diego, as were three of his siblings, their kids and a couple of cousins, something that was special for Kastner because, playing at Virginia, his family didn’t get to see a lot of him playing in person during his college career.
Kastner, who played as a long-stick midfielder in his debut, said the first game was a blur, but he had a solid individual performance, causing two turnovers and picking up one ground ball. He said he felt a sense of responsibility to help fill the void that was left by Merle’s season-ending injury, particularly in his communication with the rest of the defensive unit.
Captain Brian Tevlin was complimentary of Kastner’s effort after the game.
“Cole’s an elite player and even better person all around. We are incredibly excited to have him on the defensive end,” he said. “We think he is incredibly talented and brings, obviously, size to our team, but his cover ability is second to none, so adding a piece like that midway through the season is something that any team would be lucky to be able to do. We’re fortunate enough that he’s on our team.”
“It may take a game or two to work him into our system, but at the end of the day, a guy like that is only going to make us better both on the field and off the field,” he added. “We’ve seen it already. I thought he played great today, and he’s obviously figuring it out as he goes, but a guy like that is going to make a huge impact for us down the stretch.”
Through his first three games, Kastner caused three turnovers and picked up two ground balls. Against the New York Atlas, Kastner moved from LSM to close defense in order to match up against Shellenberger. Though Shellenberger recorded a game-high seven assists in New York’s victory, three of them came while the Atlas were on the power play.
General manager Joe Spallina commended Kastner on his on-ball effort against the potential MVP candidate, saying he “played excellent.” Kelly said the matchup was a deliberate choice by the coaching staff.
“He’s covered [Shellenberger] more than anybody on the planet,” the coach said. “I think he did a great job.”
While Kastner wanted a better outcome on the scoreboard, he saw the positives, as well, and he relished the opportunity to match up against someone he views as both one of the best players in the world as well as a great friend.
“I have to attribute so much of the success I saw on the lacrosse field to [Shellenberger],” he said. “I spent the majority of my first year covering him, covering Matt Moore, playing against these incredible attackmen you see in the PLL do these crazy things. They taught me so much about playing defense: how to be physical, when to engage, when to press out, all these different things. Because I had the four years with Shelly, any opportunity I had to get one-v-ones in and go against one of the best players in the world made me so much better. It was awesome getting to square up against him. It’s pretty hard to shut him down. He has an incredible night whenever he’s playing, but I was definitely happy with my performance.”
While his PLL career provides only a small sample size of action, there is plenty of optimism about Kastner’s potential.
Miezan, who played for the Redwoods in 2024, knows firsthand what it takes to be able to play multiple sports at the Division I level in college and then transition to the professional ranks. He said Kastner has everything it takes to be successful.
“Cole is the combination of God-gifted talented – he’s a 6-[foot]-7 physical specimen, can run, can cover – but he’s also one of the most humble and hard-working people,” he said. “Cole’s superpower is his ability to block out all the good things that people are saying about him and still come to work and put it all on the line.”
In a little over a year, Kastner has experienced several memorable moments, such as Virginia’s double overtime victory over Johns Hopkins in the NCAA tournament, Stanford’s buzzer-beater against North Carolina, and making his PLL debut in his home state in front of family and friends.
He’s also experienced some lows, like losing to Maryland on championship weekend, a last-second loss against Louisville in the ACC tournament and an injury in PLL training camp that caused him to miss a few weeks.
Through it all, Kastner has expressed nothing but appreciation and enthusiasm, which he hopes to carry over to the remainder of his first PLL season.
“When you love what you’re doing, nothing matters too much,” he said. “I loved every minute of the Virginia lacrosse experience I got. I loved every minute of the Stanford basketball experience I got … and loved every minute preparing for the PLL and getting back into it. To have some of these games and be in training camp and help our team anyway I can, I’m just incredibly grateful for it all.
“It’s been a special year.”
