Tradition-rich Wilton is enjoying a revival.
After hovering around the .500 mark from 2006-2008, the Warriors have won 15 or more games in three of the last four seasons, including 2011, when the Warriors won the Connecticut Class M state championship.
The resurgence coincides with the arrival of former WHS standout John Wiseman as the Warriors’ head coach prior to the ’09 season.
How do the Warriors look in a wide-open 2013 FCIAC race?
For a first look, we turn to one of Wilton’s top returnees, Brendan Devane, a junior attackman who late last year committed to Bryant University, which is coached by Wilton alumnus Mike Pressler.
The 5-foot-11 Devane has good speed and stick skills and a strong lacrosse IQ.
Now, here are Brendan’s perspectives on the season.
What have you been doing to get ready for the season?
Our team plays winter lacrosse at Chelsea Piers on Sundays. There is good competition there. We play Fairfield Prep, Brunswick and Greenwich. I’ve also been running, lifting and doing wall ball after school with my teammates.
How does your schedule look, what games are you looking forward to most, and who are some of your scrimmages against?
So far the schedule looks good. There are a lot of good teams on our schedule, and there will be a lot of competitive games to look forward too.
The FCIAC is a very tough lacrosse conference, and I think we will be ready play.
The games I am looking forward to most is the game against Darien since their one of our biggest rivals and the game we play at the Checking for Cancer tournament, because we get a chance to play a good team from out of the area.
We always have a tough out-of-state schedule, and this year, John Jay (N.Y.), was added to our schedule.
So far, I don’t know who we will be scrimmaging, but we play a preseason tournament at Madison, Conn., (Daniel Hand) and the teams there are always good.
What player or players on your team do you think will surprise some people this season?
I think there will be a lot of players on the team this year that will make a huge impact. We have a very young, inexperienced team and so far from what I have seen a lot of the younger kids and seniors have really stepped up in the winter games.
There are three sophomores who I think will contribute a lot, two middies, Reid Melillo and Christian Hansson, and a defenseman, Jack Dexter. Also, Will Garbus (junior midfielder), Henry Lee (senior LSM), Ryder Farmakis (senior attackman), Eric Noonan (senior attackman) and Mike LaSala (senior defenseman) and Tommy Hayes (senior midfielder) will be impact players this season.
Since we lost nine starters, there are going to be a lot of new names you will be seeing.
What do you think the strength of your team will be this year?
I think the strength of our team will be our offense. We have a lot of fast, athletic middies who can make plays in transition, and all around, we have some tremendous dodgers and finishers on our offense. I am confident that everyone on our offense can step up and make a play.
I think with our play in transition and our settled offense, we will be able to control the tempo of the game.
How do you view the race in your league and who do you think some of the contending teams will be?
As always, the race in the league is tough. Ridgefield, New Canaan, Darien and Greenwich are all great teams, and they’re always contenders for the No. 1 seed in FCIAC. There is also Brien McMahon and Fairfield Ludlowe who are good teams as well.
I think it’s difficult to determine who the best team in the FCIAC will be because there is so much talent. Greenwich has a lot of good underclassmen and Darien, New Canaan and Ridgefield are always tough opponents. It will be interesting to see how it all turns out.
* LaxLessons’ story on Brendan’s commitment to Bryant
* For more info on Brendan, check out his player profile by clicking here
If you’re a player from the NY/NJ/CT tristate region and would like to share your perspectives on the 2012 season, send an email to info@laxlessons.com.
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Posted In: fciac, Player's perspective
Great stuff Brendan.
Great job previewing the team Brendan. Have a great year.