All eyes will be on Somers High School in the Hudson Valley before the boys lacrosse regular season even begins for most varsity teams.
That’s because, for the fifth straight year, the Tuskers will be hosting the Somers Red/Gray Preseason Classic.
As always, several of the teams participating will be from Long Island.
That also happens to be the college destination of Tusker senior Alex Corpolongo.
A 6-foot-2, 205-pound midfielder, Corpolongo is a strong dodger with good stick skills to go along with his size. He was a key member of Somers’ Section 1 champion football team this past fall.
Corpolongo will be playing his college lacrosse at Stony Brook University.
But he first has one final varsity season at Somers.
Now, here are Alex’s perspectives on the upcoming season.
What have you been doing to get ready for the season?
Since football ended, I’ve been doing a ton of strength and speed training that I think is going to give me a big advantage in my matchups this spring.
I’ve also been shooting at the field every single day and throwing around with some of the guys on the team multiple times a week.
How does your schedule look, what games are you looking forward to most, and who are some of your scrimmages against?
We open up with our first scrimmage this year against Pelham on March 21. We’re also scrimmaging Eastchester and then we have our annual Red/Grey Scrimmage.
As for our game schedule, it looks very tough like it usually is. The games that Somers looks forward to most every year are Yorktown and John Jay. We are really competitive towns in every sport and I don’t think there’s any love lost between the three of us.
What player or players on your team do you think will surprise some people this season?
We had a really big graduating class last year and I think a lot of people will be very surprised to see the amount of talent we have on our team this year.
At midfield we’ll have myself and Marc Fiocco returning from last year, and then my brother, Justin, will round out the starting midfield for us this year. He’s a very talented athlete who is great in all parts of the game; he can score, face off, and play solid defense so he’s going to be an important weapon for us this year.
Chris Marasco is going to move to attack this spring which is a great move for our team because he’s such a shifty dodger and a crafty player inside. He will be joined by Dave Rubenstein and Tim Cousin.
Tim Cousin is a junior who has actually been working out and shooting with me every day. Tim has a phenomenal work ethic and a very good feel for the game so he’s going to be a big match-up problem for opposing teams.
Our defense will be lead by Dan Campbell. He’s a big, tough, athletic kid who’s going to be really hard to beat. Joining him will be Matt Chiriboga. He’s a monster who’s going to fit right in with the great LSMs in the league.
And perhaps our biggest surprise will be our new goalie, Nik Genualdo. He’s got big shoes to fill with Chris Cousin graduating, but Nik is a very athletic kid who has picked up the position faster than I’ve ever seen and he’s determined to improve every single day. I’m very excited to see him continue to progress and shut people down in the spring.
What do you think the strength of your team will be this year?
I would have to say that our offense will be the strength of our team this year. We’ve got a lot of talent offensively and I think every guy on our starting line is a big scoring threat.
I think a lot of teams have role players, they have guys that are time-and-room shooters, they have dodgers, and they have feeders. With our offense, every guy is capable of initiating a scoring opportunity. I think if we can stay healthy this year, defenses are really going to have a hard time stopping us.
How do you view the race in your league and who do you think some of the contending teams will be?
This year we have a really tough league. Four major opponents of ours every year are Yorktown, John Jay, Lakeland/Panas and Mahopac. This year we’re all in the same league and I think any of us have a chance to win it.
With that being said, I think Somers is going to come to play this year. We’re athletic and driven and I’m confident that if we keep working hard and improving at the pace we’re on right now, no one’s going to be able to beat us this spring.
* LaxLessons.com story on Alex’s commitment to Stony Brook
* For more info on Alex, check out his player profile by clicking here
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Posted In: Player's perspective, Section 1
Do your thing Alex!
Nice breakdown of the team. Sounds like the goalie position will be in good hands even after losing Cousins.
I like this kid’s game. Big, physical hard nosed, unselfish middie.
Strenths for this team are always size and speed. Think they will put up some good numbers on offense. However will they be able to stop people on the other end. Lots of ??? there.
Definitely looking forward to Red/Gray on March 23 at SHS. Lots of good teams including some strong LI teams.