Feb. 12, 2010
VILLANOVA, Pa. - The Villanova Wildcats men's lacrosse team will begin the 2010 season with a date against the Ohio State Buckeyes in Columbus, Ohio on Saturday at 1p.m., and after coming off of their most successful season in the program's history, expectations are higher than ever.
2009 proved to be a historic year for the `Cats. A first-ever NCAA tournament appearance, a CAA tournament championship, CAA Co-Coach of the Year honors for Mike Corrado, USILA All-American and CAA Defensive Player of the Year accolades for Brian Karalunas and numerous individual accolades for last year's 12 graduating seniors, the previous year was surely one for the record books. But with a new team, a newly formed BIG EAST lacrosse conference and a new attitude, the Wildcats are eager to hit the turf for the 2010 season.
Attack
Perhaps the biggest challenge for Coach Mike Corrado will be replacing the two leaders in points last season in Tim Driscoll and Matt Fritts, both of whom combined for 60 points last season. However, Corrado will be looking towards the young lineup of sophomores Matt Bell (Serverna Park, Md.) and Kevin Cunningham (Garden City, N.Y.) and a pair of freshman in Jack Rice (Baltimore, Md.) and Will Casertano (Millbrook, N.Y.) to be the top four guys in the attack position. "Those four guys will be our anchors on offense" says Corrado.
Bell and Cunningham combined for 16 games played last season and have plenty of experience considering the strength of schedule the Wildcats continually endure. "Matt Bell at attack has had a really great fall. He was our fourth guy last year and got some playing time, but he's really made a big jump. We'll be counting on him for sure," says Corrado.
Rice, a standout on high school lacrosse powerhouse Boys' Latin School in Baltimore, Md. comes to the team with all-conference and team MVP honors. "Rice has a chance to be a great player for us this year. He's an attackmen who just knows how to score. He's our leading scorer in practices and in our games this fall. He's got the chance to have a great season."
Casertano recorded 30 goals and 14 assists in his senior season at the Salisbury School and will add depth to the front line.
Corrado states, "In addition to those key four, Paul Mita (Berwyn, Pa.), Alex Westcott (Millerton, N.Y.) and Nick Doherty (Bernardsville, N.J.) will be playing a lot of attack and midfield for us this year. They'll give us a lot of options on the offensive end."
Midfield
Building upon the traditional strong midfield that fans have come to expect from Villanova, Corrado will be looking to junior Mike Brennan (Manhassett, N.Y.) and senior co-captain Mark Scioscia (East Hampton, N.Y.) to lead the company of Paul Webber (Manhasset, N.Y.), Chris Aiken (Haverford, Pa.), C.J. Small (San Diego, Calif.) and Nolan Vihlen (Germantown, Tenn.) at the midfield spot. "Those are probably our top six guys, and Mike Brennan and Mark Scioscia will be key to the leadership and development of our core group. Brennan is one of the best all-around midfielders in the country, he does everything. He wings on face-offs, man-up, man-down, he's fast... he just does everything," marks Corrado.
Brennan provided the Wildcats with a solid individual effort in 2009, starting all 17 games while recording 9 goals and 18 assists for the season, good for 27 points. Scioscia played in 16 games last year and notched a gritty 21 groundballs while scoring 9 goals and providing 5 assists.
Behind them pushing for time will be senior Michael Arvan (Penfield, N.Y.), senior Kevin Kaval (Baldwinsville, N.Y.), sophomore CJ Burke (Pittsburgh, Pa.), and freshmen classmates Max Hart (Bethesda, Md.) and Harte Thompson (Chester Springs, Pa.). "Arvan, Kaval, Burke, Hart and Thompson gave us a good effort in fall ball, and they`ll be looking for some playing time as we get into spring" said Corrado.
Defensive Midfield
Coach Corrado believes the short stick defensive unit is one of the most vital on the field. This year, the four-man rotation will be junior T.J. O'Donnell (Randolph, N.J.), junior Andrew Henrich (Wyndmoor, Pa.), freshman Nick LoBiondo (Mountain Lakes, N.J.) and sophomore Joe Payne (Birmingham, Mich.).
O'Donnell and Henrich combined for a total of 20 games played last season while Payne gained valuable experience over the summer and this past fall for the Wildcats. LoBiondo guided Mountain Lakes High School to two state championships during his tenure and tallied 17 goals, 5 assists and 43 groundballs last year as a senior.
Corrado states, "Those four have been playing together all fall and we'll count on them during the spring."
Face Off Specialist
Nolan Vihlen and T.J. O'Donnell will once again share face-off duties for the Wildcats, both of whom gained valuable experience at the position last year.
Vihlen won 110-230 attempts as a faceoff man while O'Donnell recorded 53 gains out of 122 attempts in 2009.
Long Stick Midfield / Close Defense
One of the biggest contributors on the field last year undoubtedly goes to junior co-captain Brian Karalunas (Dewitt, N.Y.), who earned USILA All-American and CAA Defensive Player of the Year honors in 2009. Karalunas made a deep impact on the NCAA tournament team and picked up a team-high 68 groundballs for the season. In addition, he's also been tabbed a 2010 Honorable Mention Preseason All-American. He'll be counted on to bring both on-and-off-the-field leadership to the Wildcats this season as a defensive mainstay.
"Brian Karalunas, Chris Creighton and Hunter Broome will be taking responsibility of long stick midfield duties for us this season. If it was possible, Karalunas has gotten even better from last year. He just dominated people in the fall."
Creighton (West Chester, Pa.) a sophomore transfer from Fairfield University and Broome (Richmond, Va.), a freshman, will look to provide depth.
The co-captains of senior Bryan McCartney (Doylestown, Pa.) and junior Chris Ficke (Madison, N.J.) will be the biggest leaders and contributors on close defense. McCartney and Ficke both started in all 17 games last season and combined for a total of 65 groundballs.
Junior Troy Higgins (Wayne, N.J.) and sophomore Ryan McDonagh (Huntington, N.Y.) will be the complement to McCartney and Ficke at close defense. Both combined for 17 games played last season and will be playing significant roles on the defensive unit.
"Seniors Greg Boukas (Manhasset, N.Y.) and Ross Reitz (Ridgewood, N.J.) will be sharing duties at close defense as well," states Corrado.
Goalkeepers
With the graduation of four-year starter Andrew DiLoreto, sophomore Dan Gutierrez (Chevy Chase, Md.) and freshmen Billy Hurley (Morristown, N.J.) and Peter Metcalf (Sea Girt, N.J.) will be looking to fill the shoes that DiLoreto occupied for the past four years.
Making his career debut in the NCAA tournament against UVA, Gutierrez has impressed Corrado with his tenacity and improvement over the past year, especially during fall ball.
Hurley boasted a 6.20 GAA in his senior season at Delbarton and guided his team to a non-public state championship last year. Metcalf led the Governor's Academy to a 32-1 record in his junior and senior seasons while tallying a 4.06 GAA.
Schedule and Outlook
With the formation of the BIG EAST lacrosse conference, Villanova will be playing against some new competition that will mark a nice change from previous seasons. Corrado states, "I don't know what to expect. We know it's a good league. We know how good Syracuse is; after that, I think its wide open. It's going to be competitive every game and it's going to be difficult. We're looking forward to playing teams we don't traditionally play. We only played two BIG EAST teams last year, so it's going to be interesting."
"The biggest thing for us is going to be leadership. It's a small senior class, but they did a nice job in the fall. We're ready."
