Season Preview: Men's Lacrosse looking to challenge for OAC Championship in 2021
By Tim Glon
| 2021 Men's Lacrosse Schedule |
ADA — A year ago, the Ohio Northern men's lacrosse team was an inexperienced group looking to maintain its spot at the top levels of the Ohio Athletic Conference.
Ironically, one year later not much has changed.
Sixth-year head coach Nat St. Laurent welcomes back eight starters and 37 lettermen from last year's squad that was 4-2 when the season was ended prematurely due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Yet he still looks at his team as a talented, although inexperienced unit in many places.
"Our guys only got to play six games last year," St. Laurent said. "Many of our guys were thrust into new roles last year and we had just a small sample size to evaluate them. They really didn't have much of an opportunity to grow. More than half of our team has not played an OAC game yet.
"We believe we have a very talented and very deep team, but in may ways we are right back where we were last year with some questions to answer. That said, our goal this year is the same as every other year - win the OAC and play in the NCAA Tournament."
The Polar Bears are led by fifth-year senior and All-District honoree Cameron Marous (Brecksville/Brecksville-Broadview Heights) on attack.
Marous is also an Academic All-American and a three-time All-Conference award winner.
He is ONU's all-time career leader with 118 goals, 86 assists and 204 points.
In all, ONU's 57-man roster has 11 seniors, 15 juniors, 11 sophomores and 20 freshmen.
Here is a preview of the 2021 Ohio Northern men's lacrosse team, by position:
Attack
Joining Marous on the attack is senior Academic All-Conference honoree Joe O'Connell (Fishers, Ind.), who led the Polar Bears in scoring last season with 15 goals and 16 points.
Marous was second in scoring with nine goals, a team-best five assists and 14 points.
Senior Academic All-Conference pick Josh Foster (Fishers, Ind./Heritage Christian), junior Ben Gawronski (Dublin/Scioto) and sophomore Riley O'Neal (Dumfries, Va./Forest Park) were also regulars on the front line last season.
"We are exceptionally deep on attack," St. Laurent said. "Marous is fifth-year senior that has provided great leadership over the years. O'Connell had a breakout year last season. We have other returners and some newcomers that could also get playing time on a regular basis."
Midfield
Senior Pat Berthelsen-Leon (Bethpage, N.Y) and senior Kevin Giles (Newport News, Va./Warhill) are returning starters in the midfield.
Two more seniors - Academic All-OAC award winner John Mullin (Syracuse, N.Y./Christian Brothers Academy) and Mason Schmeling (Columbus/Hilliard Darby) also return as regulars in the rotation.
Juniors Christopher Cranston (Fairfax Station, Va./Lake Braddock), Ethan Falsone (Orchard Park, N.Y.), and Cameron Veto (Fenton, Mich./Hartland) also return.
"We plan to come at our opponents in waves," St. Laurent said. "We want to run and be aggressive and use our depth to our advantage. We are deep in the middle and have good senior leadership here, too."
Defense
Senior Hunter Hudgins (Westerville/Central) and junior Bradley Griffin (Troy, Mich./Bloomfield Hills) each started all six games on defense a year ago and lead the returners on the back line.
Senior Max Christopher (Mariemont), junior Hayden Kaiser (Delaware/Buckeye Valley) and sophomores Ethan Hojnacki (Naperville, Ill./Neuqua Valley) and Nathaniel Mitchell (Columbus/Worthington Kilbourne) also saw action in at least five games a year ago.
Senior Branden Stoeffler (Fishers, Ind.) and junior William Doran (Terrace Park/Summit Country Day) were also regulars in the rotation.
"Defense is probably our least experienced group," St. Laurent said. "We feel very good about the talent we have on defense. Our depth here is also outstanding, especially at LSM - we have some guys ready to step into increased roles that we are excited about."
Goalkeeper
Sophomore Cole Zaferakis (Liverpool, N.Y.) was named to the Inside Lacrosse.com All-Freshman Team as the nation's top freshman goalie in 2020.
He posted a school-record 17 saves in his first collegiate game and followed that up with a 19-save performance as ONU opened its 2020 season with impressive victories over Southern Virginia and Elmhurst (Ill.)
Juniors Matt Huizenga (New Albany) and Carson Smith (Forsyth, Ga./West Forsyth) also return to provide quality depth in another area.
"Cole had a great freshman year and is the real deal," St. Laurent said. "He's a great young man who is driven to keep getting better. Matt and Carson give us outstanding depth. Our incoming freshman will factor into the mix, too."
Faceoff
Senior Preston Victory (Brentwood, Tenn.) returns for his fourth year in the faceoff circle.
Victory is third in ONU history with 232 career faceoff wins and his .617 winning percentage is the best in school history.
A pair of freshmen will also get opportunities as St. Laurent likes to rotate the faceoff guys to keep the opponents off-balance.
Schedule
The Polar Bears will play a nine-game round-robin schedule over nine Saturdays from March 6-May 1 to determine the OAC Regular Season title and seeding for the OAC Tournament.
Each team will also play four league opponents in games that will not count in the OAC standings, beginning with the season-opener with Otterbein on Feb. 28, and will be played on three Wednesdays in March and April.