Bishop Kearney Back with Civalier at Helm

After a brief absence, the Kings return to play lacrosse with Aaron Civalier become the eighth head coach since the late 1970s. The Kings last played in 2013. Full Story

Class C Looks Like Geneva-Wayne-HF-L

Class C 2021 Preview Team Stories Full Story

Penn Yan Looks for Number 25

There is no doubt the Penn Yan will be looking to win their twenty-fifth Section V title this spring. The Mustangs have won every year except one since 1998. Head Coach Brian Hobart will be playing fourteen regular season games, most of which will be against Finer Lakes teams. The Mustangs will be playing as part of the Finger Lake League this year after many years as an Independent. In a "normal" year they would have scheduled tough competition in and out the Section as they would prepare for NYS tournament action, but there is no State tournaments this spring. Full Story

Rush-Henrietta in a Tough Class A

The Royal Comets had fifteen seniors last year who did not get their senior year and almost all of their scoring left with them. The 2019 season was their best year for R-H since 2015 ending in the quarterfinals with a loss to Hilton and things were looking up.  Full Story

Canandaigua Dedicating to 2020 Seniors

Canandaigua is one of the top teams in Class B, but there are a lot of them, as the class is the most competitive that the section as seen and quite a while. The Canandaigua schedule is full of good games against teams like Penn Yan, Corning, Ithaca, and Victor, but they really don't have any easy ones.  Full Story

Wayne Excited to be Back on the Field

Wayne is a respected program in the Finger Lakes and in Class C as they have seen continual growth in the program in the last few years. Although they were finalist in the Sectional tournament in 2018 and 2019, they have be unable to bring home the block. There have been several close games against Geneva so it is clear that the Eagles can win against the Panthers.  Full Story

Newark Excited to Get Back to Playing

Newark has a mixture of returning and new players on the varsity this year. Brandon McNeil had 9g-3a as a sophomore midfielder and plans to play at D`youville next year. His classmate, Jayden Shepherd had 9g-6a and is a three-sport athlete. The goalie spot this year looks like it will be filled by Caleb George Cody who had very limited time in 2019, but learned a great deal from Talyn Pierce who was the Goalie of the Year in the Finger Lakes. Coach Groot says, "Caleb will be the quarterback of the defense and has put in a lot of work into it!". Helping him will be Aaron Rodney-Spencer, a senior defenseman who the Reds will look to handle top opponent attackmen. Full Story

McQuaid With Three Strong Returners

Quite a number of coaches feel that McQuaid Jesuit will be a top contender among Class A teams this year which makes sense with three players who made first-team All-League honors as sophomores returning for their senior year. In the attack is Max Ettinghausen is a four-year starter who scored 28g-24a in 2019 and 23g-13a as a freshman. He is a "fast, smart and tough player with excellent stick skills and is a strong leader" according to Coach Corcoran. He will continue playing lacrosse next year at Tufts. Full Story

Hilton Wants to Continue Momentum

Hilton has a good mix of games they should win and those that be more challenging. 2019 was a great year for the Cadets with a 14-3 record that took them all the way to the Class A championship game where they lost to Fairport. They will play both Fairport and Pittsford in the regular season and could face one or both in the tournament. They will also play McQuaid Jesuit in the regular season and could see them at the end of the year as well. Full Story

Haverling and Young Team and New Schedule

There are lots of changes in Haverling this season. The Rams will play a Finger Lakes League schedule this year, although they will not be in contention for their league honors, they will count on youth to lead the team while playing new competition. Full Story

Brockport Looks for Help from Beardsley and Parker

Head Coach Josh Laskowski is excited: "This season is dedicated to all of our seniors from 2020 that didn’t get a chance to play their final season. Sixteen games in a five-week span will be a great challenge for us, but we wouldn’t trade it for anything. Lacrosse is back!" Full Story

Gananda Looks to Returners

Gananda had a tough year in 2019, posting their first losing season since 2011 at 6-11. They had a large number of underclassmen on that team and some are now juniors and seniors.Junior midfielder, Brock Chasey is back after scoring 14g-4a as a freshman, along with senior attackman AJ Golden, who as a sophomore on the 2019 team scored 23g-2a. Bothwill be important on the Blue Panther offense. Gavin Britton is back in the goal for the Blue Panthers. He made 141 saves as the starting goalie in 2019 and is looking forward to more this season. Helping in defense will be junior defenseman Justen Moskal. Full Story

Penfield has Thirty-Three Weapons

Penfield has been playing in the Class A tournaments until this year when they dropped to Class B where there will be huge competition at tournament time. The Patriots will see a bunch of Class B teams during the regular season with interesting matchups with Canandaigua on May 12th, Thomas on May 19th and Victor two days later. They will open their season hosing West Genesee on May 1st. Full Story

Geneva Wants another Block

After his arrival during the 2018 tournament, Head Coach Jeff Dunham won his first sectional title. Many coaches in the Section think that Head Coach Jeff Dunham could end up with his third sectional championship this spring. Full Story

Livonia-Avon Looks to Experienced Coach

Livonia-Avon Head Coach John Sciera was hired last season and has yet to coach his first game for the Lakers but he certainly knows the area and the Finger Lakes. Sciera started the Livonia program in 2002 and coached through the 2007 season before moving on to coach at the college level. He has a full schedule this year that starts with the Finger Lakes and adds Aquinas, Haverling from GRALL and a few Monroe County teams. Full Story

Marcus Whitman Wants Big Things

In 2019 Greg O'Connor came on as the Head Coach and Marcus Whitman had their first winning season since 2012 and only the second time since they started in 2009. They also made the tournament final four for the first time and so the Wildcats were hoping that momentum would carry on into 2020. Fortunately, there is a good core of players that return from that 2019 team. Full Story

Schroeder Excited to Play

Schroeder had few underclassmen on the 2019 roster and so most of this year's team will be new to the varsity. Junior midfielder Nick Hauman returns after scoring 31g-20a as a freshman and has committed to play at Towson after graduation. According to Coach Mordaci, "He is a very strong two-way midfielder, a leader, and has a fantastic lacrosse IQ." Joining him in the midfielder is senior Tim Weisensel (10g-5a) who is very athletic and quick and junior Tyler Gould. Full Story

Greece Storm Looks to Leonardi

Head Coach Shane Cole was hired last year taking over for Andy Hilton and although he had big plans, there were no games, so he, like his players are looking forward to this season. "The Greece boys are very excited to get after it this year. We have a dedicated group of seniors and underclassman who want to make a statement this season." The 2019 season ended the Storm's 11-6 record with an overtime 10-9 loss to Penfield in the quarterfinals. Full Story

Gates Chili Looks to Rebuild

Gates Chili had eight sophomores on their 3-14 2019 record and three are back in leadership roles for their senior year. In the attack are Brady and Ethan Knauf. Michael DiMarco returns for his senior year in the midfield. New to the varsity are juniors Nathan Weise in the goal and Blake Fennel in the midfield. Full Story

Brighton Young but on the Move

Brighton will have a young and inexperienced team this year. There are only two players returning from 2019, but they are quality players. Senior attackman Olin Stanat will start the season with 42g-21a from his freshman and sophomore years. He will be playing for Le Moyne after graduation. Senior midfielder Sam Tourangeau also has two years of experience and will start the year with 15g-3a and 260 face off wins (67%). He will be heading to Ithaca next year where his expects to play both football and lacrosse.  Full Story

For Fairport Teamwork is Priority

In their last time out, the Red Raiders had a 17-3 record and went all the way to the NYS finals behind the efforts of Klay Stuver, Colin Peers and Gavin Ingalls among others on the offensive end and Tim Defendis in the goal. Fairport always seems to have a core of standout players, but this year it harder to see the core having lost opportunities to shine in 2020. Still, the majority of coaches in the section feel strongly that Fairport will be in the championship game again this year. Full Story

Spencerport Excited with New Coach

Spencerport had a rough start the last time out, dropping its first five games, but then they found themselves and won five games at the end of the season, losing to Canandaigua in the quarter finals. The Rangers are looking forward to continuing the upward trend. Full Story

Irondequoit look to New Coach and Returning Players

Irondequoit has one of the most stories histories in scholastic lacrosse. Their eighth Head Coach, Aaron Bottazzo, was hired in 2020 and is an Irondequoit alumnus who played for John Pratt. He will be seeing his first action with the team when he hosts Thomas on May third. Like many coaches he is ready to get on the field, "Right now, the boys are extremely excited to have the opportunity to get back out on the field and compete with each other and against the top-notch lacrosse teams we see in section V. After losing the season last year, we can't wait to find out about ourselves and see what we can become." Full Story

The 2021 Season is Underway

The first week of practice is nearly done and there is a great deal of excitement as players and coaches take to the field in preparation for the first scholastic games since June of 2019.

We have posted twenty previews thus far this week. They are the result of our work along with information provided by the head coaches of twenty four of the 35 coaches in the section. We are still looking forward to eleven more in the next few days. Below are quick links to the stories that have been written, those that will be posted shortly and those that still need reports from coaches. An * Indicates that a team preview will be posted soon.

Class A Stories:
East United-Eastridge - Fairport - Greece Storm - Hilton - McQuaid Jesuit - Pittsford - Rush-Henrietta

Class B Stories:
Brighton - Brockport - Canandaigua - Churchville-Chili - Gates Chili - Irondequoit - Penfield - Schroeder - Spencerport - Thomas - Victor

Class C Stories:
Batavia - Geneva - HF-L - Livonia-Avon - Midlakes-Red Jacket - Newark - Wayne

Class D Stories:
Aquinas - Haverling - Bishop Kearney - Bloomfield-Honeoye - Gananda - Marcus Whitman - Mynderse - Pal-Mac - Penn Yan - Waterloo

Full Story

Churchville-Chili Has Big Ideas

In Churchville-Chili's short history, they have had six head coaches and the latest, Cubby Chalmers has worked to bring the program back to the 2016 season when they went 17-1. This year's schedule is not robust but gives the Saints opportunities to show they can play with the more established programs. Full Story

Thomas Returns Many with Experience

Unlike most teams in the section, Thomas only lost two seniors to 2020 graduations and so they have many players who were successful as underclassmen. Although all that youth was tough in 2019, leaving the Titans with their first losing season since 2005, there will most certainly be a payoff this year even as they play in the most competitive class. Full Story

Victor Starts with New Coach

Victor was ready in 2020 to seek it's seventh straight Section V championship and had the players to help make that happen, but gone are Camden Hay (Albany), Shea Newell (Mercyhurst), Joey Pezzimenti (Albany), Alec Russell (Le Moyne), Regan Endres (Albany), Cameron Gormain (St. Bonaventure), and Ethan Roberts (Seton Hill) who are all playing in college now along twenty-one other Victor alumni. Full Story

Mynderse Has Lots of Youth

Head Coach Scott Sciera is back for his eighth season at Mynderse with a full sixteen game schedule and a very young roster. Full Story

Aquinas Has Lots of Multisport Athletes

Aquinas stuggled in 2019 and ended with their first loosing season since 2001 and so they were ramped up to play last year. Coach Pat Olbrich has some athletic multi-sport athletes as the core of his team this year and a schedule that will give them lots of opportunities for a great season. Full Story

Waterloo has Lots of New Faces

Like many teams this year, there are not many players returning from the 2019 roster, but Coach Matt Morrin will start his seventh year with three players at midfield who have been there before. Full Story

Opening Day 2021

Thursday: DAY IN REVIEW: It was opening day after a year without lacrosse and all four games today were mismatches. Bloomfield-Honeoye scored first in their opener at Waterloo and never lost the lead in what was a close game until in the last stanza, the Pride scored four unanswered goals. Junior midfielder JD Allen left the game with 6g-1a and senior attackman Max Willix had 2g-3a to lead the scoring. For Waterloo, sophomore attackman Nathan Costantino and junior midfielder Peter Shangraw each had 2g-1a for Waterloo who gets a few days off before player Wayne on Tuesday. Full Story

Hilton wins a Thriller at Brighton

Hilton stayed close the entire game and didn't take their first lead until 4:02 left in the game as they won a 12-11 at Brighton. Their strong win was on the backs of Cole Loweke (2g-2a) and Matthew Mojsej (2g-3a). Brighton's stand-out performance was from Sam Tourangeau at the draw (20/25) and on offense (2g-2a). Scoring was led by Olin Stanat with 3g-3a for the Bruins.win. Full Story

Day two: Hilton and Gates Win Openers

Friday: DAY IN REVIEW: There were two games played on a cold night with some rain, and in Brighton, some snow flakes. Hilton stayed close the entire game and didn't take their first lead until 4:02 left in the game as they won a 12-11 at Brighton. Their strong win was on the backs of Devin Kluth (2g-2a) and Matthew Mojsej (2g-3a). Brighton's stand-out performance was from Sam Tourangeau at the draw (20/25) and on offense (2g-2a). Scoring was led by Olin Stanat with 3g-3a for the Bruins. The story Continues. Full Story