Lacrosse – 2014 Class A North Preview

Class A North 

Team listed in alphabetical order

Christian Brothers Academy

Head coach: Dave Santos, 16th season (200-78)

2013 record: 12-6.

2014 outlook: The Colts return an experienced group of attackmen and midfielders, led by senior attackers Thomas Deiner and Matt McGuiness. Deiner is the leading returning scorer coming off a 35-goal, 31-assist season. McGuiness finished last season with 34 goals and 25 assists. Senior midfielders Thomas Palisi (17 goals) and Frank Isola, along with defensemen Brett Anderson and Joe Ventura, round out CBA’s returning starters. Junior middie Nicholas Gazzillo is coming off a 14-goal season and steps into a starting role. Junior Evan Bynoe steps into the starting goalie spot after the graduation of Jack Wilson.

Colts Neck

Head coach: Jeff Rosenberg, 10th season (85-68)

2013 record: 12-7

2014 outlook: The Cougars return experience in the back end with senior defenseman Anthony Gargiulo and senior goalie Dusty Thugut leading the charge. They’ll have to find a way to replace the scoring of graduated seniors John Miller and Rob Halmi, who combined for over 100 points last season.

Freehold Township

Head coach: Mike Ferrando, third season (22-10)

2013 record: 15-3

2014 outlook: The Patriots lost a ton of offensive weapons from last season, including the Shore’s leading scorer, Dan Bloodgood. Freehold Township brings back standout face-off man Billy Sasso in the midfield along with 50-goal scorer Steven O’Brien and junior Brandon Nunez at attack. Juniors Collin Bitsko and Mike O’Brien anchor the defense in front of first-year starting goalie Chris Favale.

Howell

Head coach: Anthony Bonjavanni, second season (11-8)

2013 record: 11-8

2014 outlook: Junior attackmen Jake Sherman and Mark Buannic lead the offense with junior middie and face-off man Zach Ornstein providing solid two-way play. Junior defenseman Anthony Pozsonyi anchors the defense with junior Pete Rush stepping into the starting role in goal.

Long Branch

Head coach: Fran Pannullo, first season

2013 record: 0-18

2014 outlook: The Green Wave are on their third coach in as many seasons as they continue to work towards the program’s first win. Returners include Tyler Schick, Terry Manning, Chris Arcos, Alex Mishyn, Andrew Tomas, Ronald Guidetti, Christian Berrocal, Ishmael Best, Tomas Conlon, Erick Chavez, Kyle Marhan, Dax Davis and Alex Pellbring.

Marlboro

Head coach: Alex Sinkovich, first season

2013 record: 6-11

2014 outlook: Alex Sinkovich takes over as Mustangs head coach and has senior attackmen Matt Lewis and Tyler Giersbach, senior midfielder Chris Coyle, and senior defensemen Joe Delacalle, Eric Mallow and Brian Prestigiacomo as top returners as they look to climb the ladder in A North.

Neptune

Head coach: Robert Schulte, first season

2013 record: 3-13

2014 outlook: The Scarlet Fliers have a new head coach in Robert Schulte and bring back senior attackman Armando Quintana, seniors midfielders Josh Burns, Michael Dove and junior midfielder Ryan Balzarano, and senior defenseman Franklin Doremus.

Ocean

Head coach: Warren Towns, seventh season (33-68)

2013 record: 4-12

2014 outlook: Leading scorer Joey Appio, a sophomore, returns along with senior goalie Bobby Graziano and junior midfielder Steven Graziano, the latter of whom finished with 84 ground balls last season. The Spartans also return senior defenseman Chris Marcinkeiwitz, junior defenseman Hayden Matarrazzo, junior defenseman Chris Psomias, sophomore defenseman Alex Bravo, junior attackman Christian Goslin and sophomore attackmen Erik Rant and Connor Daly.

Red Bank

Head coach: Don Femminella, fourth season (32-27)

2013 record: 8-11

2014 outlook: The Bucs graduated leading scorer Max Paris, but return plenty of offense with brothers Jake and Cole Smolokoff along with senior attackman Karl Hottman. The defense is lead by seniors Ryan Seely, Zach Bradley and Jack Hammond in front of sophomore goalie Jon Pierce. Senior attackman George Zackman has been productive early in the season, as well.

Wall

Head coach: Chris Knight, ninth season (78-72)

2013 record: 11-5

2014 outlook: All three starting attackmen return after combining for over 150 points last season. Seniors Kyle McDonough, Kyle Critchlow and Bruno Setteducati give the Crimson Knights one of the top attack lines in the Shore. Senior long stick midfielder Tim Foley had over 85 ground balls last season and leads the defense along with seniors Phi Shields and Nicholas Bongiovanni. Senior Hunter Kaplan returns as Wall’s starting goalie. Sophomore Michael Steppe has been solid early and gives Wall another weapon on attack.