Rising Stars and New Leadership

The Aquinas Boys Lacrosse team is gearing up for the 2025 season with a mix of returning talent and new leadership. After finishing the 2024 season with a 16-6 record, they aim to improve their performance.

2024 Recap and Roster Changes

In 2024, Aquinas won 12 games by 5 or more goals but lost 7 seniors. Key players who graduated include Peter Agnello (Defense), TJ Geyer (Midfield), Jack Schimmel (Defense, Mercyhurst), and Carter Wegman (Midfield, Nazareth).

Key Returning Players

The 2025 team includes several award-winning players. Tano Auriuso, who plays in the attack, had an impressive 89 goals and 39 assists last season as a sophomore, and was named to the 1st All-Section team. Goalkeeper Jake Gibson recorded 199 saves with a 57.7% save rate and earned a spot on the Section V All-Tournament Team. Jake Guggino, another attackman, contributed 59 goals and 27 assists, also making the Section V All-Tournament Team. Noah Olbrich, an attackman with 60 goals and 37 assists, was recognized as the SportsFive.NET Player of the Year and the Section V Class D Tournament MVP.

New Leadership

Billy Lombardi, an alumnus of Aquinas, is stepping in as the new head coach taking over for Terry Corcoran. This will be his first year in the role. Lombardi played Division I lacrosse at Penn State University, where he was a four-year standout and earned the prestigious Teammate of the Year Award in 2017. He brings a wealth of experience and a strong connection to Aquinas to this leadership role and is excited to start the season. "This off-season has been a great opportunity for us to learn about ourselves. Our focus has been on getting a little bit better every day, and prioritizing what is directly in front of us. The players have done a great job of understanding this, and being accountable to one another."

Season Outlook

With 83% of their goals and 88% of their assists returning, Aquinas looks strong offensively. They averaged 13.5 goals per game while allowing 7.7 goals against last year. The team is focused on making another deep playoff run.

In the 2024 season, Aquinas had an impressive tournament performance. They won their semifinal by defeating Marcus Whitman 17-6 and then clinched the final against Penn Yan with a 14-11 victory, played over two days, securing their place in the New York State tournament. In the NYS out-bracket game, they overcame Akron with a 13-10 win and advanced to the quarterfinals, where they defeated Chenango Valley 18-6. Unfortunately, their journey ended in the NYS semifinals with a loss to Marcellus, 15-8.

Aquinas's schedule includes non-league and independent games, with important matchups against rivals such as McQuaid Jesuit, and strong teams from Monroe County including Thomas and Penfield. Their performance in close games will be crucial to their success.

Preseason stories are based on information from SportsFive.NET databases and coaches.

Stories are planned for each of the teams in Section V and will be released, a few at a time, between now and the start of the playing season. The stories will remain on the front page for about one week and then will be available in the NEWS archive. There will be links for all the published stories HERE and a link will also be available on each TEAM PAGE.