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Lacrosse has become a wildly popular sport in the Hudson Valley in recent years, and while only three of the schools in our coverage area have varsity squads, all have high hopes for the 2008 season. Here’s a preview of the upcoming campaign.
Arlington
Chris Malet is embarking on his first year as head coach of the Admirals’ varsity team. But after the last three years as an assistant and the six years prior as JV head coach, he brings plenty of experience to the table. And he is confident about the upcoming season despite losing 15 seniors from last year’s 13-4, league-title squad.
“We’re going to surprise a lot of people who think we’re going to have a down year,” said Malet. “This is a talented group.”
With only seven seniors on the entire roster, Malet admits his Admirals are young. But that hasn’t prevented him from setting some pretty lofty goals for his group.
“I give kids what I call ‘attainable’ and ‘reach’ goals,” he said. On the ‘attainable side,’ we’d like to get 10 wins, win another league title and get back to Sectionals. If we give 100 percent, we should achieve those goals. As for the ‘reach’ goals, we’d like to win a couple of Sectional games, which we’ve never done. We’d also like to compete for the Sectional title, but that’s looking toward the future.”
The Admirals’ lacrosse program has only been in existence since 1998 (it became a varsity program in 2000), but with six consecutive 10-win seasons, expectations are always high.
“We’ve been very successful very quickly,” said Malet. “The community and the parents expect a level of excellence from us. But the most important thing for me is to give the kids the best possible experience. Everyone likes to win, but I want these kids to enjoy the game and their time with the program.”
Arlington, which lost its opener 13-9 to Mamaroneck, will rely on senior attackman Mitchell Lindsey along with senior midfielders Andrew Hettinger and Ryan Rutigliano to pace its attack. Junior goalie Cody Breite will also be a key contributor.
FDR
Tom Cervoni’s Presidents are coming off a mediocre 9-10 campaign in which they lost in the first round of the playoffs. Despite losing his three senior captains from 2007, Cervoni sees better things ahead.
“Guys who were part of the supporting cast last year are really stepping up,” said Cervoni, whose team began 2008 with convincing wins over Middletown and Walkill. “We were really balanced last year and we’re just trying to maintain that balance.”
Cervoni has been particularly impressed by junior Andrew Makowicki, who has risen from spot player to the Presidents’ leading scorer in the early going of 2008.
“He’s been the most pleasant surprise,” said Cervoni. “I always knew he had good skills. But I didn’t think he’d become our top scorer. He’s really blossomed.”
Cervoni is focused on getting his team to compete with the better teams in Section IX, something the Presidents did not do a year ago.
“Last year we had no problem against the weaker teams,” he said. “We played a lot of close games with the mid-level teams, but the elite teams spanked us. Winning the first two games lets us know we’re on the right track, but the kids are excited to see where they stand (against the better teams).”
Among the players who will lead Cervoni’s “highly skilled” squad are senior attackmen Andrew Mallen and Ryan Mahan. Seniors Bill Wasilewski (captain), Brendon Murphy, Chris Makowicki and Ryan Kiernan mind the midfield for the Presidents. Senior goalie Greg Myers is protected by defensemen seniors Steven Quetglas and Rob Sasser.
“My focus is to build young men,” said Cervoni. “We’d like to win a few games along the way, but mostly I want our players to leave our program as better men than when they came in.”
Ketcham
There’s a lot of room for improvement for Scott Snyder’s Indians, who managed only one win in 2007. But after losing only three starters to graduation, Snyder sees big things on the horizon for 2008.
“Last year we never took it to the cage,” said Snyder of his team, which opened at home against Nyack on April 9, after the Beat’s press time. “In practice and during our scrimmages this year, we’ve been taking the ball to the cage a lot more. We finished off strong last year and now we’re just trying to pick up where we left off.”
Snyder is excited because of the experience his team will feature on both sides of the ball. In addition, the Indians will once again be led by senior All-League goalie Mark Mayotte.
“We’re just going to take things game-to-game,” said Snyder. “Last year we looked past some teams. We’d be competitive in the first half of games and then fall apart in the second half. This year, we want to stay competitive (all the way through).”
Mayotte is so confident about his team’s new approach, he doesn’t think there are any limits on what the Indians can accomplish this season.
“We can definitely challenge for the league title,” he said.
Ketcham is led by junior midfielder Jack Molfetta and sophomore midfielder Brian Jennings. In front of Mayotte, the defense is fortified by seniors Justin Fricker and Mike Olchowoj.
