If you believe the mantra that defense wins championships, you have to like Yorktown’s chances of making a return trip to the New York State tournament and winning a 36th Section 1 title.
After all, the Huskers have three Division I-bound defenders in seniors Jack Phelan (Rutgers) and Trevor Koelsch (Johns Hopkins) and junior Austin Fusco (Syracuse).
The 6-foot-3, 190-pound Phelan not only has good size, but good speed as well. An aggressive defender, he is especially adept at coming away with groundballs.
Now, here are Jack’s perspectives on the upcoming season.
What have you been doing to get ready for the season?
I’ve been lifting weights and working on speed and agility. I’ve also been working on my stick skills at the YHS wall.
As a team, we competed at the Rutgers and the Shoreham-Wading River tournaments in the fall.
How does your schedule look, what games are you looking forward to most, and who are some of your scrimmages against?
We have a challenging schedule this year. We’re playing Chaminade, St. Anthony’s, Darien and Wilton.
The teams I look forward to playing the most are John Jay and Lakeland/Panas. John Jay is a sectional rival and Lakeland/Panas, we play for the Murphy Cup. Everyone in Yorktown comes to see both these games. We also are playing Columbine High School from Colorado. It should be a great experience for both teams.
Teams we’ll scrimmage are Don Bosco and Iona Prep.
What player or players on your team do you think will surprise some people this season?
I think that senior LSM Andy Fervan, junior midfielder Kris Alvarado, senior attackman DJ Peters and junior attackman Nicky Bonitatibus should all make contributions to the success of the team this year.
What do you think the strength of your team will be this year?
Defense will be a strength of the team this year because we have three Division I defenders. We have good size, strength and speed. Our team also has two great faceoff guys in Danny Manning and Luke Palmadesso. We also have scoring threats from Prestreau, Vercruysse and Mariano.
How do you view the race in your league and who do you think some of the contending teams will be?
Some contending teams that we’re going to have play to be section champs are John Jay, Somers and Rye.
* LaxLessons.com story on Jack’s commitment to Rutgers
* For more info on Jack, check out his player profile by clicking here
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Posted In: Player's perspective, Section 1
Great job summing up the strengths of the team Jack. Have a great senior season.
Defense will be strength of this team. Question is will there be one starter in goal or will Zach and Austin rotate??? Thoughts…
Congrats on Golden Dozen Jack. That’s a great honor.