Last season, of course, was a historic one for the Lakeland/Panas Rebels, who beat archrival Yorktown twice in the same season for the first time in school history, including a dramatic overtime win in the sectional title game, and advanced to the state semifinals for the first time since 1997.
One of the main reasons for that success was the performance of attackman Rob Caffrey, who finished with 70 goals and 33 assists.
Caffrey, who went on to star for the Hudson Valley scholastic men’s Empire State Games team, will continue his lax career at Providence College of the newly formed Big East Lacrosse Conference.
But for now, he shares his thoughts on his final varsity season.
What have you been doing to get ready for the season?
As a team, we started lifting in November and doing a bunch of strength and agility drills. When the weather is nice, we go out on the turf and play. Our team also participates in the Brewster Winter indoor league every Wednesday. We are very excited for the upcoming season.
How does your schedule look, including scrimmages, and what games are you looking forward to?
Our schedule is a lot harder than last year. We added Shenendehowa, Greenwich, Conn., and Ridgewood, N.J. We will also play Penn Yan again and scrimmage a few teams from up north. Including all the teams from Class A, we still have the annual Murphy Cup with Yorktown, as well as games with John Jay, Somers, Mahopac, Putnam Valley and Rye.
What players on your team do you think will surprise some people this season?
Some players I think that will surprise people this season are our freshman goalie Mike Zingaro and junior midfielder Tony Laguerre. Mike has quick hands and a great clear and Tony is really going to be a force in the midfield and will score a bunch of goals for us this year.
What do you think the strength of your team will be this year?
I think our strength will be our offense. We have a solid core of seniors coming back and many young attackmen and midfielders that are capable of scoring a lot of goals. Also, I think as a whole, our team is extremely athletic and in shape and that will be a very important factor when we get deep into the season.
How do you view the race in Section 1 Class A and who do you think the contending teams will be?
There are a lot of great teams in Class A this year. Mahopac is an extremely skilled team with great players as well as Suffern. We have to continue to work hard and get better if we want to be successful and win another section championship this spring.
* For background info on Rob, click here.
Lakeland/Panas 2011 schedule
Mar. 23 White Plains (scrimmage) 4:30 PM
Mar. 26 Somers Jamboree TBD
Mar. 28 Byram Hills (scrimmage) 4:30 PM
Mar. 30 Pelham (scrimmage) 4:30 PM
Apr. 8 Hen Hud 4:30 PM
Apr. 9 Suffern 7:30 PM
Apr. 12 Arlington 4:30 PM
Apr. 14 at Putnam Valley 4:30 PM
Apr. 16 at Rye 3:00 PM
Apr. 19 Penn Yan TBD
April 21 Carthage (at West Point) TBD
April 23 Shenendehowa 1:30 PM
April 26 John Jay 4:30 PM
April 28 Greenwich 7:00 PM
April 30 Shaker 2:00 PM
May 3 at Brewster 4:30 PM
May 5 at Mahopac 4:30 PM
May 7 at Yorktown 7:00 PM
May 12 Fox Lane 7:00 PM
May 14 Somers 7:30 PM
* For schedules for teams from throughout the region, be sure to check out the “Schedules galore” thread, and scroll down to the comments portion for the most recently released schedules.
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Posted In: Player's perspective, Section 1
Talk about a kid with a “nose for the goal”
Caff is the man
Yeah, Rob….Give ’em hell bro. Providence is lucky to be getting him. He’s a WR guy. !!!
Yeh Rob! Have a great year kid!!!
Love watching Rob play. Such great skills and quickness.
Don’t rule Mamaroneck out Rob. Watch out for them in the class a playoffs. You’ll be surprised, and might have a hard time scoring against their best poles and top tier goalie.
I know Ferguson is a top LSM. Who are some of their other guys?
Also, Mamaroneck has a much tougher schedule this year. They’re playing Weston CT, Oceanside LI, Fairfield Ludlowe, and Byram Hills all out of league. In league, they’ll have Bronxville, Scarsdale, Pelham, and White Plains twice.
This improved schedule will prepare them for sectionals in a way they weren’t last year. They went into sectionals on a 14-1 streak (14-2) overall, but their biggest win were over teams like Brewster and Ludlowe. I have no doubt that they were talented enough to make it to the semis or beyond last year, but they weren’t tested enough during the year to rev it up for playoff time. This year should be different.
had no idea mamaroneck moved up to class a where was i. good luck to the whole program should be fun to watch
Slacrosse: They have another LSM, who can also play close as effectively named Sam Christiensen. Those two will switch off playing LSM and close. I think those two can limit Caffrey and Prunty. Also their goalie is going to be a fairly big D1 prospect.
Yeah I follow hockey and know Christiansen. Unfortunately for my team Rye, a 4-2 loss to Mamo last night.
Would like to see Mamo become a Section 1 power. Maybe too many kids go out for their great baseball team?
They do have a great baseball team, but I don’t think that too many that would be great lacrosse players, play baseball. Maybe it’s only hard to visualize, because they have never played, ya know?
I think Mamaroneck is on the rise to a major Section 1 power. Like I said, watch out for them this year, they have a lot of talent. After this year, they are losing a few good seniors, but they have soem very strong underclassmen. Look for them to continue growing in years to come.
Mamo def hurt by baseball team that keeps 30 on roster. take Hagan, muzansky and Shirley and put a lax stick in their hand this season. Mamo program will be helped by new turf field and youth program that continues to grow but also serves as feeder to IP, RCDS and other privates. They need to get the raw athletes in middle school in the program and also improve coaching at that level.
Yeah, Joet. I think Mamaroneck can make some noise in A. I have them as the third best team behind Lakeland and Mahopac, but I don’t think it’s unreasonable to say Mamaroneck could beat either of those teams on any given day. Like I said, I have Mamo as third, so They would most likely be against pac, lakeland, or suffern in the semis if they make it, and if a team that hasn’t been that far in a while makes the semis on the verge of the championship, I say watch out. It’s only one game. I would watch mamo this year and see how they progress.
Mamaroneck is not better than Suffern IMO…although they are much improved. Clarkstown South, White Plains, North Rockland and Arlington (homer pick) are sniffing around in there too. Tough call on Mamaroneck being the 3rd best team in Class A this season. Maybe 4th or 5th…but you have to give Suffern some credit. Suffern might even be number 2 based on the fact that they beat pac last season in OT and the pac graduated some serious players.
Yeh Robbb
South of 287,
To your point Rye kids used to do the larchmont youth lax program yrs ago before Rye started up its own youth program. Wonder if you can limit it to kids going to schools in the mamo/larchmont school district.
South of 287: That’s true, but I think you can probably say that about most schools. While there are schools where lacrosse is the biggest sport (Yorktown, JJ, etc) and lacrosse is attracting all the big time athletes, that’s not every school. Most schools lose some athletes to other sports. Coaching could possibly be it though. I’m not sure about how the coaches are at the lower levels. Mamaroneck has had a more successful baseball team than other teams recently, but I don’t think that that’s the reason why. Before 3 years ago, Mamk had never won a state championship, and most kids decide whether to stick with lax or baseball around 8th grade or before. So I don’t think that success has affected much. But i see your point.
slacrosse: Yeah, kids like McCreddie, Bonsall, Briggs, and others all grew up in LMYL. LMYL was created to help the sport grow, so at that time they weren’t going to limit it to Mamaroneck kids. Now that more towns have their own youth programs, I’m not sure if they’ve changed their rules.
Could be wrong but have heard now in Rye that more kids are signng up/playing youth lax then little league baseball.
Nothing against baseball or any other sport for sure.
Dont know but maybe in Rye, the reasons derive from a combination of youth kids AND parents (maybe more important then their young kids) being drawn to good youth coaching, success of varsity lax program, and seeing Rye grads get recruited on an annual basis (at least 6 seniors this yr) therefore maybe feeling that lax (versus another sport) may be a more realistic way to possibly help their kid with college?
Absolutely true, slacrosse. Not only Rye, but other towns along the I-95 corridor, including Greenwich and Darien, where the ratio of lax-to-baseball participants is about 3-to-1.
No, I definitely understand, and I knew when I said Town and JJ, I was going to be leaving some out. South of 287 made a point that since Mamk has had such success with baseball, more of their athletes are playing baseball. I was just saying most of those kids had decided a while before to play baseball even with a great youth program in place. Every school is going to lose some potential players. All conflicting seasonal sports will have this.
And your point about college is very fair. Especially a place like Darien where kids are going to schools like Cornell, Duke, et al.
Psyched to see how l/p does this year, always a fun bunch to watch. Good luck Rob!
Class A
I think mamk is big enough school to have successful lax and baseball programs. I just feel bad that some of these athletes don’t get to experience the great sport of lacrosse. 🙂
lacrosse
Rye did it right signing up the Dooleys who have allowed a lax culture to grow and stay involved with summer camps and summer travel teams. Mamk doesn’t have that…
Mamaroneck use to have a stong(er) lacrosse program back in the midd 70’s to mid 80’s. Both on the girls and boys side. They also had a strong baseball and softball program back then as well. I think the sport is driven by the quality of coaches and the program that put forth. If the kids are having fun, there is a natural gravitation towards the sport through peer to peer discussion.
Kudos to Rob and all of the laxers getting ready for the campaign! Good luck and enjoy the season!
As far as Hudson Valley HS lax goes – check the records of the 70’s and early 80s. Mr. Murph, Jim Turnbull and Gerry Walsh inspired Yktown and HV lax. There was another core set of coaches that inspired HV programs and communities. Led by great coaches (great role models too) like Ron Benizio (Roosevelt HS, Cortlandt St, NY Lax Club – commanded great deserved respect) , Mike Sudano – (A coach who never played but led a great Freshman/JV program) and later Bill Ucci (CW Post alum with high lax IQ) – Mamk was a HV leader with Yktown, White Plains, Gorton (won a championship), Fox Lane, Horace Greely and Scarsdale. Mamk never won a county championship but challenged every year – lost to the 80 yktown team that was loaded. The school can do just so much – the communities must support early. Larger talent pools normally moves to lax after baseball Cooperstown trip when youngsters cant hit a curve ball. That plus deep hockey season has hurt MHS. Mike Chiapparelli (MHS hockey and baseball coach and a great guy) has been very successful and popular since Mid 80’s. Jeff Barnard has worked hard and seems to be making progress but he is working against 15 years of success in baseball and hockey that crowds out the lax program. Hopefully more athletes will step up and grab a stick earlier to make the MHS program deeper.
Know some Mamo kids go big time D1 baseball like St. Johns.
But from the aspect of which sport has the edge in helping to get into college wonder if lacrosse has the edge? Really dont know.
But you look at the lacrosse recruiting in Section 1 and you see at least a couple if not many kids on every major (and some non-major) teams getting recruited to D1-D3 teams. Is is the same for baseball?
Benizio and Sudano great coaches, great guys who gave much to the program. Chap arrived at MHS in the early 80’s and has been rippen it up since on the ice and diamond. Back in the 70’s & 80’s there were many football/laxers (many played basketball too). Well rounded athletes. Agree with slacrosse that Mamaroneck needs to step the lax support.
Nice job Rob we all look forward to watching you play this year. Can you score 100 goals? Maybe.
keep stickin it kid murphy,section lets keep it going. a.a. this year 4 u kid u deserve it. u conner and monty best of luck.
Mamk is great in baseball for the same reason that Town is great in Lax. The culture in Mamk is overwhelmingly for baseball. Most of the better athletes make the decision to play baseball early on, and then don’t switch until they get cut from Modified baseball in 8th grade. By that time it is a little too late to get to the skill level needed to beat the up county teams that have had a stick in their hands since 2nd grade. The same is true in baseball, has Town or JJ gotten even close to the state final 4 in baseball. The better kids who have come thru Mamk in the past couple years, Monaghan, both Fergusons, Andrew Edell, Jake Danehy, simply never played baseball and joined LMYL in 2nd grade or earlier. And if Mamk could have put the kids from LMYL in their Uniform instead of Rye, RCDS, IP, etc., the last 5 years in Section 1 might have looked a lot different
As someone said above I think, maybe it’s just gonna take enthusiastic parent/coaches (lots of dads in Rye played lax–sure same in mamo/Larch) pushing youth lax and keeping in mind/pointing out that aside from enjoying the game, it has proved to be an increasingly good recruiting tool for many kids in Section 1 (bette/worse then baseball? I dont know). Also Mamo youth lax shouldn’t leak kids, at least to Rye, since Rye has its own strong youth program.
Pretty sure he was referencing Rye, pre RYL. Culture begins with leadership, parents and the coaches, to grow a program.