Following his first year as the head coach of the Londonderry High boys’ varsity lacrosse squad, Sean LeBlanc had quite a few reasons to be pleased with the performances and overall work of his charges.
The 2015 Lancers posted a 13-5 record but only made it as far as the Division I tournament quarterfinals before being eliminated by the Souhegan High Sabers from Amherst.
This spring LeBlanc rolls into his second season as the head man of the Lancers, and there are four key returning starters back in the fold from the 2015 crew and a total of 13 varsity returnees from that contingent.
And at the heart of the Londonderry crew’s 2016 hopes is optimism that players who were in back-up roles last spring will be able to advance and take over more prominent roles and do well in them this season.
Those vital returning starters include seniors Dave Wiedenfeld (an attack), Nick Donnelly (defense), and Bobby McEachern (defense), and junior attack Sean Snyder.
The other varsity returnees who will be counted upon to take over bigger jobs include 12th-graders Max Hastings (attack), Casey Park (attack), John Galluzzo (midfield), and Ryan Kelly (middie), juniors Peter Navarro (middie), Merrill Neiman (middie), Tyler Grant (middie and face-off specialist), and Alex Fawcett (goalie), and sophomore Corey Hicks (defense).
The Lancers’ most promising newcomer is sophomore midfielder Nate Andrews.
“We will have quite a few players previously in reserve roles who will need to step into key roles on both offense and defense,” said LeBlanc. “And we’re hoping to improve our face-off percentage from last year and gain more possessions.”
When thinking in terms of what Division I will offer in the way of top competition this spring, LeBlanc listed the defending D-I champions from Pinkerton Academy, a Bishop Guertin crew from Nashua that won the previous five divisional crowns before falling to Pinkerton last year, and the Souhegan contingent that ended the Lancers’ title hopes last season along with the Bedford High Bulldogs.
The LHS laxmen will get their 2016 campaign rolling officially next Monday, April 11 when they host those Bedford Bulldogs.
The Lancer Lax squad will get their season underway on Monday, April 11 when they host the Bedford Bulldogs. Photo by Chris Pantazis