Byram Hills was one of the hottest teams in Section 1 entering the class championship games at the Suffern Middle School Complex.
The Bobcats had won five straight entering their meeting against Bronxville. Though they lost 15-6, Byram wound up with a 15-5 mark.
One of the keys behind that success, goaltender Andrew Larrabee, returns for his final varsity season before heading off to the University of Notre Dame. As you can see in Larrabee’s highlight film, he made some pulsating stops, many from point-blank range, in 2011.
The Bobcats also welcome a new coach, a man familiar with the youth lacrosse scene in Armonk, former Team USA player Jeff Fritz.
“I’m anxious for my senior season, as well as my future at Notre Dame,” Larrabee said. “It should be a great experience and I am looking forward to teaming up with former Section 1 opponents: Don Keough (Rye High School), Jack Near (Bronxville High School) and Matt Landis (Pelham High School).”
Now, here are more perspectives from Andrew on the 2012 season:
What have you been doing to get ready for the season?
I’ve been in the weight room multiple days each week, in addition to our team’s weekly practices in the Armonk Dome and high school gym.
How does your schedule look, what games are you looking forward to most, and who are some of your scrimmages against?
Our league includes Rye, Greeley and Fox Lane, who are all usually very fun teams for us to compete against.
We have a few out-of-section scrimmages and games that should be a good test for us early on. They include Kinnelon, New Fairfield, Poly Prep, Brien McMahon and an additional team from Long Island.
What player on your team do you think will surprise some people this season?
We had a lot of underclassmen make contributions last year and we’re going to count on them to take on even bigger roles this season.
Sophomore defender Connor Morley is one of them. He stepped up last year at the end of the regular season and played exceptionally well through our run to the finals. I believe he definitely has potential to become one of the elite defenders in the section. Look for him to have a big season.
What do you think the strength of your team will be this year?
I think one of our biggest strengths will be our team chemistry. We have a lot of seniors who have been playing together since elementary school, are in their third or fourth season on varsity and had the experience of a sectional final last year. Hopefully that will translate into a lot of positives on the field.
How do you view the race in your class and who do you think some of the contending teams will be?
A lot of teams, including us, lost a lot to graduation, so we will have to wait and see how each team rebounds from it.
Defending champ Bronxville still has a lot of talent and is the favorite in C, but if we work hard and stay healthy, we hope to challenge them for the section.
Putnam Valley, Pleasantville and Pelham should be strong as always. Dobbs Ferry and Hen Hud, who dropped down from Class B, will be in the mix as well.
I thinks it’s a pretty wide open race and I am definitely looking forward to it.
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Larrabee is the top goaltender is section one. Going to a top 5 school in the country. I think it is complete and utter politics he did not go in the All America watch list.
P&G,
Any Jay lax kids playing hockey? Rye has a few. Two evenly matched and better teams in their League going at it on Wed, last regular season game before playoffs. Remember when Latino played.
The Man, pretty strong regarding Larrabee not being on some all American list. If there is going to be any goalie from section 1 getting AA honors it will be Kris Allyene of Clarkstown. Kris has all the tools, good stopper and strong outlet passes plus a good athlete.
Larrabee was journal news goaltender of the year last year, all-section the past two years, and going to a much more prestigious school for close to free, not to mention playing on a better team that rode him to the finals…i dont know how a rockland goalie can even match those credentials
goalies, your biased comment towards a “rockland” goalie is silly, whats it matter where the player is from. Larrabee was rewarded last year for being on the best team(record wise) when compared to the other quality goalies. Line-up Allyene, Stephens or Danehy along side Larrabee and give them the same level of the support Byram Hills gave Larrabee last year and i bet he wouldn’t be the first goalie picked.
and regarding your comment that he’s going for close to free, its my understanding he didn’t sign a letter of intent with ND, so he received no scholarship money thus there is nothing binding them.
the only correct thing you said was that he’s going to a more prestigious school, I think most people would agree that ND is a more prestigious school.
rockland goalie means nothing, alleyne is the REAL DEAL
“going to a more prestigious school”,Alleyne not as good as Larrabee because Alleyne is a “rockland goalie”.
For sure those ridiculous comments are the LAST thing that Larrabee, his team mates and BH supporters want to see from a so-called Larrabee supporter.
me thinks this is a bit of a joke/spectacle thread…both awesome goalies with bright futures…actually a # of really good gaolies in the section this year. Shd be fun to watch the seasons.