With 16 returning players and five newcomers, Perryville lacrosse coach Chris Soper has a good foundation. After a 10-5 season last year and winning 10 games in each of the last two years, Soper wants to meet or exceed that goal this year. Soper is looking for Nick Roberts and Dom Muscella to help lead and direct the team. The coach is also enthused at having a pair of strong goalies, Ben Savick and Matt Mannone. Freshman Kyle Burns is expected to do big things this season. Soper explained that he is trying to build on the team's success and strengthen the lacrosse program. One way of doing that will be a tri-team scrimmage on March 18 at Calvert Regional Park. The Panthers, Manchester Valley, Queen Anne's, will participate. While Perryville is expecting a good season, Rising Sun boys lacrosse has some obstacles to overcome. Despite losing some key players to graduation, first year head coach Justin Parker is confident in his young Tiger team. "The attack is where things get interesting, because we graduated all three of our starters last year, we had to get creative," said Parker in an email. The team has two freshman, Drew Opp and Ben Ernhart, who are expected to step up and fill those gaps. "I was apprehensive about putting two freshman on starting varsity attack, but (the way) these two get out and play against the varsity defenders has removed any concerns that I had going into the season. For the third spot, we bumped returner Quinn Struble up from midfield, and have been pleasantly surprised with how that move has turned out." said Parker. Freshman Colby Brown will be the starting goalie. "I've asked a lot of a ninth graders to step in (the) goal at this level, but he's answered the call and has been working his tail off every day and is getting better," said Parker. For the midfield, there are two returning seniors Austin Philistine and Stephen Szkalak. Parker said they will make an immediate impact with their fellow junior returner Ryan Yashinskie. "These three players ran on midfield line last year together and I'm really excited to have continuity carry over, and (I) expect big things from that line this season," said Parker. "I knew going into this season that filling the attack void left by the graduates would be a huge task, and I believe with the group we have, we tapped into something special." Comments are closed.
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