Season Preview: Men's Lacrosse looks to take next step into post-season play in Year 3
By Tim Glon
ADA — Now in its third season as a program, the Ohio Northern men's lacrosse team is looking to take another step into post-season play in 2018.
The Polar Bears welcome back 34 lettermen and nine starters from last year's squad that went 9-7 overall and finished fifth in the Ohio Athletic Conference with a 4-4 record under third-year head coach sat St. Laurent.
St. Laurent recruited 35 freshmen for the inaugural season in 2016 and 24 of those players are still in the program.
Add to that two more strong recruiting classes and it is easy to see why optimism is high in the Polar Bear camp entering 2018.
"Our juniors have laid a solid foundation for the program," St. Laurent said. "We have an experienced group of guys that are now older and have played 30-plus games of college lacrosse. We have three sophomores back as starters and have some incoming freshmen that will challenge for starting spots. Our goal this season is to establish ourselves as one of the top four teams in the conference and get into the OAC Tournament this spring."
Here is a breakdown of the 2018 Ohio Northern men's lacrosse team, by position:
Attack
The Polar Bears welcome back 183 of the team's 192 goals from last season, led by juniors Max Weese (Columbus/Hilliard Darby) and Noah St. Croix (Rochester, N.Y./Irondequoit) and sophomore Cameron Marous (Brecksville).
Weese led the team with 39 goals a year ago, is ONU's all-time career leader in goals (67), points (80), shots (202) and shots on goal (124) and has a school-record 11 career hat tricks.
St. Croix ranks fourth all-time at ONU with 34 career goals and has six career hat tricks.
Marous was named Second Team All-OAC and Conference Rookie of the Year as a freshman in 2017 and was second on the team with 36 goals a year ago.
Junior Peter Hardt (Bethpage, N.Y./Plainedge) had 12 goals and 20 points in 2018.
"Offensively, we have a great deal of talent and depth," St. Laurent said. "We also have four incoming freshmen that provide depth and will push the returners. We feel very good about our offense."
Midfield
Fourteen lettermen return in the midfield, giving the Polar Bears many options this season.
Offensively, junior Second Team All-OAC honoree Anthony Pavone (Chagrin Falls/Kenston) had 18 goals, a team-best 27 assists and 45 points a year ago.
Sophomores Samuel Neff (Fairfax Station, Va./Trinity Christian) and Patrick Moran (Austin, Tex./Bowie) started as freshmen and were among the teams leading scores midfield.
Other junior midfielders returning include brothers Mitch Groves (Fishers, Ind./Chatard) and Nicholas Groves (Fishers, Ind./Chatard), Samuel Pearson (North Royalton/Lutheran West), Connor Preston (Carmel, Ind.) and Tanner Walrath (Werren/Kent Roosevelt).
Sophomores that return after lettering in 2017 are Patrick Alfano (Swanton/Anthony Wayne), Patrick Berthelsen-Leon (Bethpage, N.Y.), Kevin Giles (Williamsburg, Va./Warhill), John Mullin (Syracuse, N.Y./Christian Brothers Academy) and Ian Pennino (Vernon, N.J./Pope John XXIII).
Long-Stick Midfield
Four long-stick middies return, led by sophomore Honorable Mention All-OAC award winner Logan Krogman (Aurora, Ill./Waubonsie Valley), who led the Polar Bears with a school-record 68 ground balls last season.
Junior Andrew Laudico (Austin, Tex./Bowie) and sophomores Javon Smith (Baltimore, Md./Dulaney) and Matt Sheftall (Austin, Tex./Bowie) are also returning lettermen.
"We have a very good group of midfielders returning," St. Laurent said. "Hopefully with our depth we can rotate three or four midfield lines to keep guys fresh and keep the pressure on our opponents."
Defense
Juniors Andrew Fox (Solon) and Jackson Pfister (Upper Arlington) are returning All-Conference honorees and lead the list of eight returning lettermen on defense.
Junior Evan Corteville (Newark, N.Y.) and Christian Berkey (Woodinville, Wash.) also returns as starters on defense.
Juniors Mack Calhoun (Bexley), Matthew Laudico (Williamsville, N.Y./South) and Wes Markwood and sophomore Ian Zaferakis (Liverpool, N.Y.) also return as lettermen on the back end.
"Defense will be our strength this season," St. Laurent said. "Drew Fox is arguably the best defender in the conference. Pfister, combining with Krogman and Smith as LSMs are anchors for us. It's a very talented, deep and experienced group on defense."
Goalkeeper
Junior Alex Pizarro (Boonsboro, Md.) is a two-year starter in goal with an 11-11 record and an 8.70 GAA.
Junior Andrew Markell (Missouri City, Tex./Ridge Point) has a 6.42 GAA and 15 saves in 14 games as a reserve and provides quality depth.
Face Off
Junior William "Charley" Peoples (Breckenridge, Colo./Summit) is a two-year regular in the face-off circle and is ONU's all-time career leader with 177 wins and a .555 winning percentage to his credit.
Sophomore Chris DiMarco (Worthington) was 100-of-169 as a freshman last season, an impressive winning percentage of .592.
"We have some quality options at the face off position," St. Laurent said. "Peoples is a two-year veteran and DiMarco was outstanding as a freshman last season. These two guys, along with our incoming freshman, give us depth and some options here."
Schedule
The Polar Bears face a challenging and exciting schedule in 2018, beginning with three consecutive home games.
Calvin (Mich.), NCAC foe Kenyon and Washington & Jefferson (Pa.) all come to Dial-Roberson Stadium in February.
The spring break trip includes games at McDaniel (Md.), Immaculata (Pa.) and Hanover (Ind.) March 3, 6 and 10 with a trip to Alfred (N.Y.) following on March 17.
The Polar Bears will host Beloit (Wis.) on March 24 in a game played on the campus of Notre Dame in South Bend, Ind., as part of a double header with the Fighting Irish women's squad.
The OAC schedule then gets underway when Mount Union comes to Ada on March 30.
Muskingum, John Carroll and Otterbein also come to Dial-Roberson, while ONU will travel to league foes Wilmington, Heidelberg, Baldwin Wallace and Capital.
The four-team OAC Tournament starts with semifinals on May 2 and concludes with the finals on May 5.