Varsity Lacrosse turns to Seniors for Leadership

After a strong 11-6 showing last year, the varsity Lacrosse team is hoping for repeated success entering a fresh new season. The Raiders see themselves as a real threat ending last season off strong, winning four of their last five contests. 

The boys enter the season with only four seniors after “Attackman” Alan Timchak tore his ACL in practice. These seniors include Midfielders Tyler Hsiao, Nick Wilson and Kyle Algeri, as well as Defender Otto Fabianich. Having such a young team opens the door for the Raiders to become not only more well balanced; it gives the underclassmen more experience to hopefully continue their winning ways after the seniors graduate. 

Timchak, even after such a grueling injury, keeps his spirits high in hopes of a good season, “I think we have all the tools a winning Lacrosse team should have, and I believe with the right mind and effort, we can be a scary team,” he said. 

Of course, while winning is the main goal, having fun is always important in sports and the Raiders have a lot of circled dates they are looking forward to. “I would say Senior Night and the Essex County Tournament are both things the team and I are definitely looking forward to,” Fabianich said. 

Having a limited number of upperclassmen could often lead to poor leadership among high school sport programs; however, this may not be the case for the Raiders. “Nick [Wilson] will for sure step into the leadership role; he is a strong, shifty, team player who has been one of our overall stars the last few years,” Timchak said. 

Wilson was a key piece to the Raiders success last year, having the second most goals and third most points on the team last season as a midfielder. He also led all midfielders in goals, assists and points. He averaged just over two goals per game last year showing consistency throughout the season. 

However, it takes more than just one person to make a winning team, and the boys have plenty of pieces to help bring in wins. Some of these consist of Junior Angelo Albanese who was second in points last season and Junior Goalie Michael Koster who came up with multiple big saves. Riley Garafolo, Kyle Algeri, Tyler Hsiao, Otto Fabianich, Val Delaney and Nick Buset will as well be sure to make some great plays on and off the ball. 

The Raiders kick off the regular season March 28 as they host West Orange at 4 PM on the home field. Then, they’ll host Wayne Hills at 7 on Tuesday, April 1, before kicking off a three-game road trip against Newark East Side, Old Tappan and Newark Academy.

While the Raiders once again find themselves heavy on underclassmen, they go into this season in an attempt to prove last year wasn’t just a fluke, and they really do have the talent to make a deep run continuing to prove the doubters wrong.