Dragon Lacrosse kicks off season behind strong Senior Leadership
Lady Dragons travel to Highland Park
As they head into their season Head Varsity Coach Bart Sullivan will lean on his eight Seniors to lead his lacrosse team to a good start. The eight players represent the largest graduating class in recent program history. Coming off a playoff appearance last year, the Dragons are looking for a repeat appearance, and a deeper run, as they kick of their North Texas High School Lacrosse League season.
As members of the North District, the Dragons face the best lacrosse teams in the state on a weekly basis. Last year's championship game featured Jesuit defeating Highland Park. Jesuit advanced to the Championship bracket with a one-goal win against ESD while Highland Park defeated Westlake (Austin.) The dominance of the North District was demonstrated in the Super Regional round, as North District teams nearly doubled their opponents by a combined score of 61 to 37.
The pre-season favorite seems to be Highland Park. Coincidentally, Highland Park is the team that kept this Senior Class from league championships at the end of both their intermediate and middle school seasons.
The defense will be led by George Elmquist, who will play as a Fairfield Stag next year, Michael Tsay who returns to the long-pole, and long-stick midfielder Nick Donfris. Senior Goalie Eryk Ross will share time in the pipes with Junior Greg Hill.
The defense will be further reinforced by Juniors Ryan Thompson, expected to return shortly from a pre-season injury and Evan Hochwalt. Sophomores manning d-poles are Matt Broadway, Mitch Gruenewald.
The midfield may be the most difficult position as successful players need to be able to move the ball in transition, pass and score on the offensive end, and play lock-down defense and create turnovers. Their depth and a chemistry gained from playing together for seven seasons should be a key advantage for the Dragons. Casey Wasserman, who is committed to Towson, will drop back from attack to join fellow seniors Carson Green and A.J. Van den Dyssel, a Denison commit, to man the midfield. Juniors Paxton Garman, Jeremy Bach, Will Horak and Austin Lehrmann will be expected to contribute as sophomores John Hollingsworth, Dylan Dibello gain experience.
Gaining possession and controlling face-offs can be a tremendous and game-changing advantage. The Dragons will lean on Sophomore Luke Leffingwell and Junior Connor Edge to handle this critical role.
The offense will expect crafty lefty Senior Jake Gillen to lead the way. Juniors Harry Blake and Preston Deno and Sophomore Ben Kehoe and freshman Jacob Donfris will also be counted on to score goals.
Coach Sullivan returns to the sideline with JV Head Coach Nick Bumpass, goalie coach Aaron Skiles, assistant coach and former Dragon player, Justin Williams, and Strength and Conditioning Coach Delano Carniero. The growth of the lacrosse program has allowed the program to add a D2 team, and add former Texas State head coach Kyle Saunders to the coaching staff.
The Lady Dragons (1-0) are off to a good start for Varsity Head Coach Faith Richards. The Lady Dragons won their first game as Mimi Wassef scored the clock-beating, game winning goal with just 3 seconds left. The play was set up following a great transition after a huge stop by goalie Chloe Monroe. The Lady Dragons JV have started the year 2-0.