2010 Preview: Aquinas

March 25, 2010 -

Aquinas
16-4 7 8

 March, 2010 - Aquinas finished their league season with a perfect 7-0 record (15-3 overall) including a win over McQuaid Jesuit during the GRALL Championship game. Seeded second in the Class C tournament, the Little Irish lost (9-10) to third seeded Livonia in a semifinal game. Although Aquinas beat Livonia twice during the regular season (11-3 and 9-8), this game was close all the way with Livonia scoring the winner with 1:47 remaining.

The Little Irish lost six players to graduation. Midfielder Ryan Doherty continues at Niagara University. Senior goalie Kraig Heston will be the most difficult to replace. Heston, who continues this season at Binghamton, finished last year with 232 saves (70%). He was one of the strongest goalies in the Section and without a backup goalie returning, the Little Irish will need to look to their previous JV goalie, David Loomis, to step into the starting role.

The return of GRALL Player of the year Austin Gorman will be a big boost to the Little Irish attack. Gorman finished last year with 45g-28a and led in all three categories. Junior Klay Heston, during his second year on varsity added sixty-one points to his career total with 44g-17a. Heston and Gorman will both play major roles in the Little Irish attack. At the midfield Aquinas has Anthony Bianchi and Mike Messina. Bianchi finished with 29g-26a last season and was the leading scorer in the midfield. Messina, a junior, returns for his third year on Varsity. He added 25g-8a last year as well as being one of the face-off men for the Irish and has verbally committed to Syracuse for the fall of 2011.

Defensively, the graduation of Casey Vogl leaves an open spot in the close defense for the Little Irish. Senior Mike Owens and Dan Foley return to lead the close defense. The Little Irish will need to find more close defenders to step into the lineup in front of Loomis as the season progresses. With the decrease in total number of games from eighteen to sixteen this year, first year AQ Head Coach Kevin Martin and the other GRALL coaches have decided to eliminate the GRALL Championship game this season. Aquinas has scheduled out of league contests against St. Francis, St. Joseph, Irondequoit, Gates Chili, Pittsford, Thomas, Penn Yan, Timon/St. Jude, Churchville-Chili and Canisius.

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Updated:03/26/2010