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As has been well-documented, Yorktown will have a new look on defense this season.
That defense will be anchored by a first-year starter in goal, Trinity College-bound senior Derek Koelsch.
After strong showings in the summer and fall, Koelsch has been spending the winter working hard to be physically and mentally prepared for the season.
White Plains enjoyed a breakout season last year that included groundbreaking wins over Mahopac, Putnam Valley and North Rockland.
Though league realignment has altered the Tigers’ schedule this season, they still hope to pick up some eye-opening wins.
That’s among the topics we discussed with Dickinson College-bound senior attackman Norman Greenfield.
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Practice is now officially under way. The start of the season is right around the corner.
Now’s the time to tell us who you think will be the best teams in the Hudson Valley/Long Island/Connecticut region.
And have a chance to win.
Today marked the official start of practices and tryouts for teams throughout the Hudson Valley/Long Island/Connecticut region.
While we’ve been focusing on the arrival of a new season, the recruiting news continues to come in.
Today, we have news of a commit from the Class of 2011, Sachem North’s Jake Cabble, a midfielder who is headed to Robert Morris.
Today, it all starts.
Officially, at least.
This is the first official day of practice and tryouts, but for many teams and players throughout the area, it’s just the continuation of a what’s already been an intense and diligent preseason.
John Jay senior midfielder Brandon Merlino (file photo by Jim Stout/MaxPreps.com) has been getting ready for months. The UMBC-bound Merlino and the Indians face their first test on March 17 when they host Bronxville in a scrimmage.
I’ve always said that one of the great things about lacrosse is that when two equally talented teams play, the result, more often than not it seems, is a one-goal game — often in overtime.
This weekend, that theory has gone one step further.
Former Huntington star Rhamel Bratton (right) scored four goals as second-ranked Virginia outlasted top-ranked and two-time defending national champion Syracuse 11-10 today in front of 7,501 fans in Charlottesville, Va.
The Cavaliers led 10-6 early in the fourth quarter before the Orange rallied in a game that had a large representation of former high school standouts from the Hudson Valley/Long Island/Connecticut region.
It was the third 11-10 result involving marquee programs this weekend.
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It was an action-filled and eventful day at the Konica Minolta Face-Off Classic at M&T Bank Stadium in Baltimore with two of the three games resulting in 11-10 overtime finishes.
Horace Greeley will be getting its share of tough tests this season.
The Quakers are members of newly aligned Conference League III-A, along with defending Class B sectional champion Somers as well as John Jay and Rye, who are both sectional champs four of the past five years.
Wittenberg University-bound senior defenseman Hunter Bastian shares his thoughts on the challenges that await the Quakers, who advanced to the sectional semifinals last year.
A total of 16 players from the Hudson Valley/Long Island/Connecticut region are among the 64 men’s college lacrosse standouts named to the 2010 Tewaaraton Watch List today.
The Teewaraton Trophy is awarded to the college player of the year.
Conor Fraylick will be playing his college lacrosse close to home — at Fairfield University.
But he has some unfinished before then. Namely, two more varsity seasons at Pleasantville.
Just a few weeks ago, Scott Bulkley was eagerly awaiting another season as assistant coach at Darien, where he played, lives, teaches and helped the Blue Wave win five straight state titles.
But in early February, Paul Burke resigned as Greenwich coach just days after being sentenced to six months in prison for drunk driving.
We’re now just days away from the start of varsity practice, and Greenwich has handed over its coaching reins to Bulkley, who was a midfielder for the University of North Carolina, where he graduated in 1995. During the ‘95 season, Bulkley served as co-captain of the Tar Heels with the former Yorktown standout Rocco D’Andraia.
We caught up with the Cardinals’ new coach tonight to get his thoughts on this major move in the landscape of Hudson Valley/Long Island/Connecticut lacrosse.
Beast47Blog.
If you’re a diehard lax fan you can probably figure out who the author of this blog is, folks.
After all, when Ric Beardsley starred for Lakeland High School and Syracuse University he was:
* A beast.
* He wore No. 47.
Now, he’s sharing his thoughts in his own, one-of-a-kind way when it comes to lax and plenty of other stuff.
The Hudson Valley/Long Island/Connecticut region has no shortage of premier programs.
One program that often gets overlooked is Brunswick.
If you look at the scheduled the Bruins play – and the number of college recruits they churn out – you could argue Brunswick is as good as any program around.
How do the Bruins look this coming season?
That’s among the topics we discussed with Darien’s own Jimmy Craft, a Yale-bound defenseman for the Bruins.
Nine players from the Hudson Valley/Long Island/Connecticut region accounted for the 44 players selected to compete in last year’s Under Armour All-America Lacrosse Classic, which was played on June 28 at Towson University’s Johnny Unitas Stadium.
The South outlasted the North 19-16 before 2,364 fans and a national television audience.
There should be a large contingent of regional standouts involved once again this year.
This year’s game is set for July 3.
But the first step is getting nominated.
Remy Lieberman is set to begin his third year as a starting attackman for Yorktown.
But this year’s Husker team will be minus many of the key players Lieberman played alongside the last two years.
That’s among the topics we discussed with Lieberman, who will attend Division III power Wesleyan, where he will join a pair of former Yorktown teammates: John Froats, the 2009 NESCAC rookie of the year, and incoming freshman Brett Cabriele.
Several former standouts from the Hudson Valley/Long Island/Connecticut region were awarded for their outstanding efforts for their college team by earning collegiate player of the week honors.
Though the season is still young, this region has been well-represented in conference accolades so far.
For an overview of scores of commitments from the leading seniors and juniors in the Hudson Valley/Long Island/Connecticut region, you can check our updated Recruiting review and commitment rundown any time 24/7.
One team that is well represented is Cold Spring Harbor.
Garden City can’t wait to get started.
The Trojans, who are coming off a state quarterfinal appearance, are the No. 7 team in the Under Armour/Inside Lacrosse Preseason National Rankings.
Garden City opens the season against Syosset for the second year in a row. The teams play on Wednesday, March 24 at Garden City. The game will come after the Trojans scrimmage St. Anthony’s (March 17), Hicksville (March 18) and Delbarton (March 20).
There’s a lot to look ahead to — and that’s exactly what we did with Connecticut College-bound senior midfielder Kevin Dachille.
It didn’t take long for Darien’s own Cooper MacDonnell to show his preseason selection as ECAC offensive player of the year was on the mark.
The Loyola senior attackman was named ECAC offensive player of the week after starting the season by scoring six goals in an 8-7 overtime win against Navy. Then, this past Saturday, he scored two goals on two shots as the 10th-ranked Greyhounds improved to 2-0 by winning at Quinnipiac 11-5.
He will try to continue his red-hot scoring this week.
The weekly honors continue to roll in and former Iona Prep star Nick Trizano is among the players from the Hudson Valley/Long Island/Connecticut region earning recognition.
Weekly awards have just launched for collegiate conferences throughout the nation, and two former high school all-Americans from the Hudson Valley region are among the winners.
Somers’ Mike Novosel (pictured at right), a senior goaltender at Dartmouth, was named Ivy League player of the week.
Former John Jay star Chris Daniello, meanwhile, was named Big East offensive player of the week.
Both Novosel and Daniello came up big to lead their teams to win this past weekend. Novosel had 15 saves as Dartmouth opened the season with a win at Colgate. Daniello had a career-high four goals as Syracuse improved to 2-0 by beating Army.
Considering all the highlights he’s already enjoyed at the high school level, it’s almost hard to believe that Mike Daniello has two more varsity seasons to go.
In fact, considering all that’s happened, Daniello’s sophomore season seems like an eternity ago.
Since it ended, he became one of the most heavily recruited players in the nation, rising to No. 9 in Inside Lacrosse’s rankings of juniors in the U.S.
In the fall, he changed his college choice to Johns Hopkins after initially committing to North Carolina.
Then, just months later, John Jay relieved Nick Savastano of his duties before naming Tim Schurr as its new coach earlier this year.
Former John Jay star Chris Daniello scored a career-high four goals as Syracuse pulled away for a 12-7 win over visiting Army in front of 4,432 fans at the Carrier Dome today.
The game had been tied at 5-5 before the Orange went on a 4-0 third-quarter run.
Mike Kimmel’s extra-man goal with 49 seconds remaining lifted Johns Hopkins to an 8-7 win over upset-minded visitor Siena in a game today at Homewood Field in Baltimore in another game that demonstrates the increased parity in collegiate lacrosse
Hopkins senior goalie Brent Herbst of Plainview had to come out of the game with just over a minute remaining in regulation after taking a penalty on a play in which he ranged out of the crease area. Herbst finished with nine saves. Junior Bill Kelly of Rocky Point replaced Herbst in goal.
Siena, which won the MAAC tournament title last season, had tied it at 7-7 on an overhanded right-hand shot by attackman Chris Roth from about 15 yards out with 4:21 remaining.
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Freshman midfielder Jeff Froccaro of Port Washington (left) had three goals, including a crucial insurance goal with 2:09 remaining, as eighth-ranked host Princeton edged No. 11 Hofstra 17-14 today.
The game marked the debut of first-year Princeton head coach Chris Bates, (pictured below right) a 1985 John Jay graduate who took over the Princeton program after Tigers legend Bill Tierney left to coach Denver.
Bates, the former Drexel coach, once again matched wits against Hofstra’s Seth Tierney as the two have done during many heated CAA battles the last few years.
Ossining will be playing this season in a newly aligned league that is made up of eight teams from Northern Westchester and Putnam, including Hen Hud.
How does Ossining look as we get set for the official start of varsity practice?
We got the perspectives of junior defenseman Michael Zavarella, who is coming off a productive summer and fall playing for WestRock.
The Clarkstown South Vikings will be keeping it closer to home this season.
The Vikings have been placed in a four-team league that also includes rivals Clarkstown North as well as North Rockland and Suffern.
While those teams are all familiar, being minus Luke Haggerty isn’t. The goaltender, who was an all-American last season, has graduated.
Those are among the topics that South’s Union College-bound senior midfielder Sean Day discusses.
With all the wintry weather we’ve seen — and will see — this week in the Hudson Valley/Long Island/Connecticut region, let’s take a trip to one of the area’s premier summer hot spots.
East Hampton.
Jake Beyer calls it home.
The 5-foot-10 senior longstick midfielder, who is bound for the up-and-coming Division I program at Mercer University in Macon, Ga., shares his thoughts on the upcoming season.
John Jay lacrosse has started a new era. Tim Schurr, who has taken over the program, is just the third varsity head coach in the 31-year history of the program.
The Indians, who saw their run of consecutive sectional titles end at four last year, welcome back a strong nucleus, and drew the No. 20 spot in Inside Lacrosse’s Preseason National Power Rankings.
Now, here are Kenyon College-bound senior goaltender Fletcher Franklin’s thoughts as we prepare for the start of varsity practice.
It’s been a busy few days for Johnny McGuigan.
He’s been spending the last few weeks preparing for his senior season as starting goaltender at Mahopac.
And this past weekend, he committed to Division II power New York Tech, where he will join teammate John Brandofino.
Last week, Brandofino shared his thoughts on the upcoming season. Now, it’s McGuigan’s turn.
Hey gang -
I thought you might be interested in checking out one of the most thorough, well-written, interesting and graphically impressive college sports previews I’ve seen.
And, perhaps most notably, it was done by a college newspaper.
Yorktown is hoping to win a sectional title for what would be the 29th time in the last 31 years this season. It’s certainly one of the more impressive streaks in high school sports. Anywhere.
If they are to do it, the Huskers will have to get consistent play from a new-look defense that is minus two all-Americans (John Fennessy/Towson and Ethan Fox/Marist) and three all-section standouts (Brendan Brunelle/Marist, Brett Cabriele/Wesleyan and Michael Bonitatibus/Loyola).
Perhaps the most experienced returnee on defense for the Huskers is C.W. Post-bound senior Stephen Burke.
Garden City will start the season as the No. 7 team in the nation, according to Inside Lacrosse’s Preseason Power Rankings.
So you’ll be hearing a lot about the Trojans, who have 11 players who are planning to continue playing the sport in college.
For an in-depth and thorough look at the Trojans, be sure to check out the perspectives of Washington & Lee-bound senior midfielder Jared Mitchell.
Two of the top players from the Hudson Valley/Long Island/Connecticut region, former Manhasset star Connor English (left) and former Ridgefield standout Matt White (below right), both made successful and memorable collegiate debuts today as freshmen at the University of Virginia. Both White and English scored goals as Virginia rallied for an 11-8 win at Drexel, giving Cavaliers coach Dom Starsia his 200th career win.
Steele Stanwick led UVa with three goals and two assists. Former John Jay standout Chris Bocklet had two goals and two assists.
Virginia, which fell behind 4-1 after the first quarter, outscored the Dragons 5-1 in the final period.
The game also marked the collegiate debut of former Iona Prep star Nick Trizano, a freshman attackman at Drexel, and the debut of new Drexel coach Brian Voelker, the former head coach at Penn. Voelker replaces Chris Bates, who left Drexel to take over the Princeton program after former Princeton coach Bill Tierney departed for Denver.
As we get set for the official start of varsity practices, we’ve headed east, west, north and south — and plenty of points in between — to get the thoughts of players from throughout the Hudson Valley/Long Island/Connecticut region in a first-of-its-kind feature, “Player’s perspective.”
And we’re grateful to all the players for their amazing insights. As I said to a coach at one of the region’s top programs the other day, the quality of their analysis has been pretty impressive to say the least.
We now venture to Katonah in Northern Westchester, home of the Harvey Cavaliers of the Hudson Valley Athletic League.
St. Lawrence University-bound Jamie Lunt, a 6-foot-3, 190-pound defenseman who transferred to Harvey from Pelham, shares his outlook.
The commitments continue to roll in gang.
As always, you can check out an archive of the recruiting updates we’ve posted here by clicking here
Our updated recruiting review and commitment rundown is also available 24/7.
Late tonight, I got word of yet another major junior class commitment.
Sachem North’s Michael Andreassi, a junior attackman/midfielder, has committed to UMass. (File photo by Ray Nelson)
Both Johns Hopkins and Syracuse started the season tonight with impressive victories in games that marked the collegiate debuts of a pair of former two-time high school all-Americans from the Hudson Valley as well as a former Ridgefield star.
Yorktown’s John Ranagan (left), a freshman midfielder for Hopkins, had three ground balls and four shots on goal as Hopkins easily handled visiting Manhattan 14-3 at Homewood Field.
Somers’ JoJo Marasco had a goal and two assists for Syracuse in a 15-9 win over Denver at the Carrier Dome in a game that marked the head-coaching debit of new Denver coach Bill Tierney, the Princeton legend.
The Irvington Bulldogs enjoyed a breakout season last year under first-year coach Drew Werney.
But the Bulldogs lost quite a contingent of key players to graduation, especially on offense.
College of Wooster-bound senior midfielder Jake Bernard offers his thoughts on how Irvington will fare this season.
The devastating earthquake that hit Haiti occurred more than a month ago.
And there is still plenty more we all need to do for the people of Haiti, who need our help so they can get the safe drinking water, shelter and medical care they so desperately need.
The Brewster Bears have made two sectional final appearances since 2005.
But senior goaltender Andrew Nicol was familiar with what title games are all about even before that.
Nicol’s father, John, was varsity coach at Yorktown from 1998-2002. During those five seasons, the Huskers won sectional championships each year.
Junior attackman Brian Coleman of Garden City has committed to Penn.
(File photo by Jim Stout/MaxPreps.com)
The Garden City Trojans fell to Sayville in a squeaker last year in the state quarterfinals.
But the Trojans appear to be the Class B team to beat on Long Island this season given the fact that 11 players are planning on continuing playing the sport at the next level.
The Rye Garnets’ run of four straight Section 1 Class C titles ended last season with a 10-7 setback to Putnam Valley last June in the sectional finsld.
Junior defenseman Michael Collins (shown defending against Rye Country Day’s J.P. Garry last season) will be among the players the Garnets will be counting on if they are to regain sectional supremacy.
The West Islip Lions, who are in pursuit of their fourth state title in the last five years are No. 1 in the Under Armour/Inside Lacrosse Preseason High School Power Rankings.
St. Anthony’s checks in at No. 4. Six other teams from the Hudson Valley/LongIsland/Connecticut region are in the Top 25, including John Jay at No. 20.
Defending Section 1 champion Somers.
John Jay and Rye, who have each won four sectional titles the last five years.
Horace Greeley, a 2009 Class B semifinalist.
Those are the four teams that join Byram Hills to form Conference III League A.
The Bobcats bring strong credentials to the league as well, having made a sectional final appearance in 2008 and sectional semifinal appearance last year.
Senior defenseman Brett Dresner says the Bobcats have the potential to achieve similar success this year.
I just completed a Q&A with Chris on the clinic. Be sure to check it out.
We have another major commitment from one of the top juniors in the Hudson Valley/Long Island/Connecticut region, folks.
Bronxville standout midfielder Jack Near, who starred this past summer for Prime Time Lacrosse, just called me moments ago from Colorado, where he is enjoying some skiing during winter break, to inform me that he has verbally committed to accept a scholarship offer from Notre Dame.
Near (pictured above in a file photo by Jim Stout/MaxPreps.com) was also recruited by Syracuse, Georgetown, Hofstra, Colgate and Brown.
It should be an interesting season for Mamaroneck.
Realignment has put the Tigers in a league that includes White Plains, Eastchester, New Rochelle, Roosevelt and Scarsdale.
If Mamaroneck is to contend for the top spot, Connecticut College-bound senior goaltender Matt Weiner will have to come up with plenty of big saves.
We continue counting down to the official start of varsity practice for the 2010 season by checking in with some of the leading players from throughout the Hudson Valley/Long Island/Connecticut region.
Now batting is Wesleyan-bound senior attackman/midfielder Ian Vazquez, who helped Ridgefield win the Fairfield County Interscholastic Athletic Conference title for the first time in school history last season.
Rye midfielder Jack O’Callaghan, one of the top juniors in the Hudson Valley/Long Island/Connecticut region, told me this morning that he has decided on a college after being recruited by many Division I programs.
“I have verbally committed to Coach (Jim) Nagle at Colgate and am looking forward to playing there with Kevin Gordon,” O’Callaghan said.
Mahopac enters the season minus all-America attackman Tyler Perrelle, but the ‘Pac does have a strong nucleus of returning players that includes one of the region’s top offensive players, John Brandofino, a senior bound for Division II power New York Tech.
* Player’s perspective archive
One of the game’s premier faceoff artists, former Colgate star Chris Eck, will be sharing his knowledge on one of the game’s most important elements on Saturday, Feb. 20 from 1 p.m. to 6 p.m. in a clinic presented by Dynasty Lacrosse at the East Fishkill Golf and Baseball Center in Hopewell Junction, N.Y.
For more info, click here.
This is a big season for Kevin Walsh – and for North Rockland.
Walsh, a 6-foot-3, lefty-shooting attackman, hopes to lead the Red Raiders to another Rockland County championship while increasing his chances of taking his game to the college level.
Lacrosse is gaining popularity throughout the nation and throughout the world.
That’s evident in Westchester, where the Keio Academy’s second-year junior team is picking up steam, thanks in large part to the efforts of senior captain Chris Jinno (pictured above). The goal is to launch a varsity team — possibly as soon as next year. The Keio Academy, located in Purchase, is affiliated with Keio University, one of Japan’s most prestigious colleges.
Former John Jay star Chris Daniello scored three goals today as top-ranked and two-time defending national champion Syracuse beat Maryland 10-7 at the Carrier Dome in the Orange’s final scrimmage of the preseason.
Syracuse opens the season on Friday, Feb. 19 at 7 p.m. against Denver in the debut of new Denver coach and Princeton legend Bill Tierney.
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