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March 15, 2006
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| The ranks of 4A teams in
the eastern county include several teams that should be able to compete
with anyone this season.
There’s a lot of preseason buzz around Sherwood, whose first-year coach, Jeremy Mattoon, inherited a strong bunch of returning players. The Warriors feature only four seniors but will rely heavily on those four, including middie Greg Mercer, a coaches’ pick for all-division honors last season. ‘‘We’re extremely young,” Mattoon said. ‘‘Our starting goalie’s a sophomore and our backup’s a freshman. But we’ve got some talent.” The Warriors’ other seniors are pole Matt Benzel, whom Mattoon said will man-up on opponents’ best player, and attackmen Mike Towson and Wesley McMahon. Springbrook returns a slew of starters from the team that finished third in the 4A East Division last season, behind Damascus and Sherwood. The Blue Devils’ entire starting attack is back, along with four of their top six midfielders. ‘‘We have a lot of kids with experience and a lot of kids who have been playing who are just really good athletes, and so we want to challenge in every game that we’re in,” coach Mark Pim said. ‘‘We’ve got some guys stepping up who got some positive experience on our ‘JV’ club team last year. ... I feel like we can play with anybody.” The team’s biggest graduation loss was probably in goal, where Brian Salant will be missed. But Pim said junior Kyle King has stepped right in and nailed down the job. A strong non-league showing lifted Blake to an 8-5 season in 2005, but the Bengals weren’t able to make much noise in the 4A East Division. With senior midfielder Pat Baudoin-Rea, an All-Gazette first-teamer last year, and junior Tom Donaghue returning, Blake has a solid foundation on which to build. ‘‘Other than those two, though, everyone graduated,” coach John Schulien said. ‘‘Our first line in, they have our big guns. I think the second and third lines have a speedy crew. They’re our groundball guys, our hustlers.” The Bengals will have three seniors starting on defense, though none was a full-time starter before this season. Senior Vince Tomaselli returns at attack, where a pair of juniors joins him. Blair graduated eight seniors from last year’s team but had 50 prospective players try out, which coach Bob Gibb said is the second most in his eight years at the school. Half of the 50 were freshmen or sophomores, which could mean good things in the future, but if things go right, the Blazers could compete in the 4A East right now. ‘‘I’m very optimistic this season,” Gibb said. ‘‘Looking at our schedule, we should be competitive in most of our games. ... We are a little bit more athletic than in years past, and if some of our young guys can get some experience, we should be able to carry this into next season, as well.” Defense has typically been the Blazers’ strong suit, and that’s not likely to change this year, with seniors Dietrich Hoefner and Ian Proctor protecting junior goalie Robbie Ginsberg. Also in the 4A East, Magruder looks to bounce back from a trying season under new head coach Eric Marks, a Magruder assistant last spring. The return of the team’s do-it-all attackman Scott Little, a senior this year, is a good foundation. ‘‘The fact that I’m taking over as the head coach is a chance for a fresh start,” Marks said. ‘‘We have high expectations. We’re looking to have a really good season. We’re not going to use anything from the past as an excuse.” Senior John Sui will join Little on attack, and classmates Tyler Johnson and Brian Romanowski anchor the midfield and defense, respectively. This off-season, the Montgomery County lacrosse schedule-makers acknowledged that parity doesn’t exactly reign when it comes to area programs. Now, rather than being thrown to the Class 4A wolves, some traditionally smaller teams in the 3A-2A-1A Division will stay more within their own weight class. "My whole thing the last two years is that we’re at the bottom of the 3A, and we’re playing the top team in the 4A, Walter Johnson, to start the season,” said Einstein coach Mark Oswell, whose team lost, 16-2, to the Wildcats in the 2005 opener. That will change this year. Einstein opens the season Tuesday against Wheaton, then visits the Knights in late April in divisional play. The Titans also play Kennedy twice this season, after losing by a single goal in the teams’ meeting last year. Wheaton plays Rockville twice, in addition to Einstein. The Knights are 0-39 over the last three years and are once again short on experienced players. But they do have a fair-sized team this year, including many younger players that coach Oscar Amaguana is hoping to keep in the program. ‘‘I didn’t have to go pull guys out of the hallway this year, which is good,” Amaguana said. ‘‘I’m hoping we can interest these guys in sticking around for a couple of years and see what happens.” In addition to Wheaton, Rockville will play Kennedy twice. That’s two final chances for Rams senior defender Daniel Heiney-Gonzalez to square off against the team coached by his older brother, David. Rockville won five games this season, and coach Patrick Howley believes they can improve on that this year. ‘‘This year, we’re working all that much harder to make sure we win the close games we lost last year,” Howley said. ‘‘This is the most coachable team I’ve had. They give 100 percent every practice.” As for Kennedy, the elder Heiney-Gonzalez thinks this could be the year for the Cavaliers to take a big step forward. There are juniors and seniors all over the field, including the team’s most skilled player, attackman Sanoussy Bary. ‘‘I’m really excited about this year,” David Heiney-Gonzalez said. ‘‘We have a lot of guys returning. Besides that, I think everybody has worked hard in the off-season and only improved, and we’re going to be better at every position.” Paint Branch, also in the county’s 3A-2A-1A Division, won’t get the scheduling breaks of those other teams after finishing 6-7 a year ago. The Panthers’ non-division schedule includes Gaithersburg, Quince Orchard and Sherwood, along with consortium rivals Blake and Springbrook. But the raw materials are there for another very competitive campaign. ‘‘We’re very large. Our entire starting lineup is over 6-foot, but I don’t know if that’s an advantage,” coach Kevin Eagan said. ‘‘We look real good in pre-game handshakes, though. ... I have a first midfield line that’s honestly as good as anybody’s, but not a lot of depth around that.” In the private school ranks, Good Counsel also looks to usher in a new era with first-year coach Danny Phillips, a former Falcons assistant and the head coach at Quince Orchard last year. The team has never won a title in the tough Washington Catholic Athletic Conference. It won’t be easy this year, either, but the Falcons have some stud performers. The simplest formula is for Loyola College commit John Schiavone to win the faceoffs and get the ball to Delaware signee Mark Steverson, whose big left-handed shot should find the back of the net a lot this spring. ‘‘I guess our big things is really concentrating on defense and making sure that’s going to keep us in, and help us win, games,” Phillips said. ‘‘We want to play like a team and make sure our captains lead us.” Sandy Spring Friends, of the Maryland Independent Lacrosse League, also promoted a former assistant to head coach this season. Steff Kerr takes the reigns at his alma mater, and despite losing standouts like pole Tyson Barrett and middie Chad Henry, thinks the Wildebeest can be competitive as usual. ‘‘Believe it or not, our offense and defense are looking even better this year,” Kerr said. The Wildebeest have both Magruder and Springbrook on the schedule this year, in part taking the place of some of the county’s smaller public school programs. Fast facts Blair Blazers
Blake Bengals
Einstein Titans
Good Counsel Falcons
Kennedy Cavaliers
Magruder Colonels
Paint Branch Panthers
Sandy Spring Friends Wildebeest
Sherwood Warriors
Springbrook Blue Devils
Wheaton Knights
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