The 2016 Division I soccer season was a peaks-and-valleys affair for veteran Londonderry High boys’ coach Todd Ellis and his charges, with the locals going a decent 8-8-1 but hitting the end of the road with a 3-1 loss to the Manchester Memorial Crusaders in the opening round of the tournament.
Now, nearly a year removed from that finish, coach Ellis looks at a Lancer roster which is packed with battle-tested seniors but also includes some promising newcomers who could conceivably make the 2017 campaign even more fruitful than the one before it.
“We are a senior-heavy team,” said the coach. “As their focus and commitment goes, so will the season. However, we do have some underclassmen that are willing to challenge them for their playing time.”
The key returnees include 12th graders Luca Amerena (a midfielder), Luke Cava (defender), Owen Creed (middie), Zack DeLeo (middie), Mike DiMambro (defender), Will Houghton (defender), Ryan Johnson (defender), and Josh Rutina (middie), and junior Jack Brown (middie).
Other varsity returnees include seniors Nolan Bartlett (defender), Jake Croteau (middie), Nick Dawe (middie), and Josh Ryan (striker), and junior James Cranmer (middie).
The big list of promising newcomers includes seniors Cam DeGraw (striker) and Evan Vogler (middie), juniors Brian LeClair (middie) and Tyler VanAvery (striker), and sophomores Keith Fletcher (defender), Brady Hanley (middie), Alex Hufford (goalie), and Nick Weinmann (defender).
Coach Ellis considers the Manchester Central Little Green to be the top team in Division I heading into the new campaign, but his Lancers jumped out to a good start to their season last Friday, August 25 with a 2-1 edging of the host Hanover High crew.
Van Avery potted the game’s first goal at the 35-minute mark of the match, unassisted, to send the locals to halftime with a slim 1-0 advantage.
Hanover knotted the score at 1-1 in the second period, but with five minutes remaining in regulation time Creed set up Ryan for the game-winner.
“It’s always difficult to travel to Hanover, and to come away with a win was great,” said coach Ellis. “I thought we did a lot of things well today, and at the same time we learned some things we can do better. We look forward to working and developing so we can be more consistent with our play.”
The local booters then came into this week facing another long bus ride to play their second match of the campaign, at Spaulding in Rochester on Tuesday, August 29, after Londonderry Times press time.