The high school spring lacrosse season is underway throughout Hampshire County, and there’s a common thread among many teams – new coaches.

Granby and South Hadley are among the programs that are hoping new leadership will lead to improvement on the field for both their girls and boys teams.

“The record last year wasn’t where we wanted it to be,” Granby boys head coach Kurtis LeDuc said. “I think people should expect a substantial amount of improvement.”

South Hadley girls coach Danielle Miele said she’s hoping her young and energetic squad will maker first-year a success.

“I am excited to see where these girls can take us this year,” Miele offered.

Despite the mix of new and veteran coaches, many teams are looking for improvement in 2023.

‘CANES TRENDING UP? — The Amherst boys are looking to substantially improve their 4-12 record from last year.

“I'm expecting us to be a competitive team and compete for the league,” head coach Charlie Edwards said.

One big key working in Amherst's favor is that it has a sizable crop of returning players from last year's team.

“Last year we were a really young team,” Edwards said. “I think we’ll be much better moving the ball and, with a handful of guys coming back from injury, much stronger for sure.”

Senior Linus Hazen, who led the team in goals last year and junior Skylar Ferro, last year's top point scorer, look to anchor a higher powered ‘Canes offense in 2023.

IMPROVED ORIOLES — Jarrod Lemke enters his first season as head coach of the Belchertown girls’ lacrosse team.

One part of the expected improvement process is cohesion. The Orioles will bring back their top four point scorers from last season – Sam Pacunas (29 goals), Paige Magner (24), Michelle Zaluga (15), and Madysen LePage (14 goals, 12 assists) who will lead the offense while Olivia Corbin and Lauren Cooper will make big impacts on the defensive end. Freshman McKenzie LePage is someone to look out for as her combination of size and speed make her primed to make an immediate impact.

On the boys’ side, the Orioles finished last year on a seven-game losing streak en route to a final mark of 2-14. After only graduating a couple seniors, the Orioles bring back an experienced squad that looks to be much improved.

“With the majority of our team back we're starting in a much better spot [this year compared to last year],” head coach Nick St. George said.

For Belchertown though, the problem has been finding a field, and field conditions forced the Orioles to host the majority of their early-season practices inside. That’s created an adjustment as they start to dive into games right away.

“I'm kind of hoping as the weather gets better, and we can get outside and have a field, that things will kind of come together for us,” St. George said.

On the defensive end, the orioles are expected to be led by Josh Grillo, Jacob Avgoustakis and Lucas Wojnas who all had considerable playing time last year, but will look to take another step this year. On the offensive end, the Orioles will rely on Elias Marques, Brady Moreau and Nico St. George. 

BOTH COACHES NEW AT GRANBY — LeDuc is looking forward to turning the Rams around in his first season. Communication is one point of emphasis that LeDuc has focused on through two weeks of practices.

“[Communication] is a really important part of the game,” LeDuc said. “We've been making sure our guys are in the right place and that our leaders are stepping up.”

The Rams are expecting big contributions from their four captains: senior Nate Loughman, sophomore Triston Moe, junior Jordan Vieu-Reed, and junior Conner McDonnell. 

Gary O’Grady is entering his first season as the Granby girls’ coach, and is looking at three main things: team play, transition play and hard defense. And based on what he's seen so far, he's confident the team will do just that.

“And our attack looked really good,” O’Grady said.

Despite only having 17 players on the team, he expects every one of them to make an impact.

MARION ENTERS AT SH — Jeff Marion enters the 2023 spring season in his first season as head coach for the South Hadley boys’ program. For some, meeting new players for the first time may be a challenge, but Marion said he is quite familiar with many of his new players. Marion has coached youth lacrosse in the past, and so he knows a lot of the team and how they play.

“It's a good group,” Marion said. “I expect them to gel together as a team this year.”

Some players to watch out for are Chase Mathers, Owen Dawson, Tim LaPorte and Noah Marion. 

YEAR 2 FOR VIKINGS — “Last year was the first year of the program and my goal was to win one game and we did that,” Smith Vocational boys coach Joe Cortese said. “This year my goal is to finish with a .500 record or better. Even though we're 1-3 [after Wednesday’s loss to Granby], each loss gives us what we need to work on.”

TOUGH SCHEDULE FOR HAMP – Defending Western Mass. Class B runner-up Northampton will play last year’s sectional champion East Longmeadow twice in its first five games of the season. The Blue Devils, which sit 1-2 entering Friday’s action, dropped their season opener to the Spartans, 15-6. Northampton is tasked with replacing the talented junior Sofia Ciaglo, who transferred to Longmeadow and scored six goals in the Lancers’ win on Wednesday.

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