Coach Hobart, knowing that a strong competition makes a great team, scheduled a challenging out of league schedules. Penn Yan has scheduled West Genesee as his opener and will also play out of league games with Schroeder, Carthage, Fairport, Shenendehowa, Amherst and Ithaca. Although it is not likely that the Mustangs will win each of those games, there is no doubt that the team will grow as a result of playing them.

The Mustang defense features junior Mike Manley Tristan Keas and Preston Christensen, but expect Coach Hobart to use four long sticks (perhaps throwing Dana Wilber into the mix) and this will make it difficult to get a shot to RJ Wickham, who is one of the top goalies in the Section.

Senior attackmen Steven Carlsen (early to Binghamton) and Dan McGuffie return to the attack and Dan Mesler (early to Sacred Heart) will return to the midfield. Junior midfielders Ryan Cook, Dan Wolfe and Chris Carlson, junior attackman Brandon Trombley and junior defensemen Donnie Benedict each had varsity experience last year and return.

The hometown fans will celebrate their new artificial turf field this season with twelve home games this season.

In the past, a fan could expect one or two teams to be perennial favorites in Class A and in Monroe County, but those days are gone. There is a continued growth in parity as the talent is more “spread around” then ever. Although Penfield has three of the best players in the Section in Kelly McKenna, Mike Arvin and Brian Dell, they are not quite as deep as they have been in the last three years where their combined record is 51-7. They will certainly be looking to get back to the Class A finals.

The slight edge in the SportsFive Poll, however, goes to Fairport, who despite the loss of midfielder Tom Rynn to a preseason knee injury, may have what it takes to win the championship. The attack sees the return of seniors Pat Reilly and Peter Burkhardt and junior Mike Danylyshyn. The midfield returns seniors Ryan Lowe (early to Ohio State), and Brian and Jeff Sanna. Junior Brent Jacobs returns to defense and Geoffrey Mayor is a terrific goalie who will return for his senior year. They have a demanding out of league schedule that includes Corning East, Orchard Park, Penn Yan and Canandaigua.

In Class B, Honeoye Falls-Lima will look to repeat as Champion, but Geneva may give them competition. Although nearly half the team was lost to graduation and former Head Coach Rick Pound as been replaced by Tom MacMillan, the Cougars will start with a very competent defensive unit of Burgasser, Mulcahey and Brian Zavitz. The offense will see Dan Layfield, Chris Stanton and Cade Norris who each saw significant time last year. Coach MacMillan has added some challenging out of league games with teams including Corning East, Schroeder and Hamburg.

Geneva returns defenseman Brian Knecht (committed to Clarkson) along with junior Andy Torruella and seniors Dan Toner and Steve Healy. In the attack are junior Greg Bonney and senior John Manion and at midfield, junior John Warner returns. Knecht is an excellent defenseman and Warner will score goals this season. The roster is full of names that will be familiar to most Finger Lakes fans including Bonney, Toner, Warner and Boncaro. Should these younger players live up to the family traditions, the Panthers can look for an exciting future.

Section Five grows to thirty teams with the addition of two new teams this year. Brockport joins the Varsity ranks this year under the direction of Ryan Egan and a combined Greece Arcadia/Olympia team will join under the leadership of Sam Cassarino.

All thirty teams in Section Five have been previewed and have been grouped by league and division.