Boys Lacrosse Preview: Roles change as Haverford School seeks to follow unbeaten season

In Monday’s paper, we previewed the task being undertaken at Radnor to build on last year’s PIAA Championship, as well as highlighting five players to watch in the county. Here’s a look at the rest of the Central League:

Last year’s Haverford School season defied description. They navigated a devilish national schedule undefeated, won the Inter-Ac regular season and Inter-Ac Challenge, assumed the consensus No. 1 ranking in the nation while sending four players to the U.S. Under-19 team.

That’s not a bad spring, even by coach John Nostrant’s notoriously high standards.

So how to build on a season in which the Fords trampled all comers? With a lot of change and a more reasonable set of expectations.

Any illusions as to repeating last season’s perfection were dashed early, with the Fords dropping two of their first five games. They were shocked by Loyola Blakefield March 15, then fell in overtime to Indiana’s Culver Academy, which had nearly spoiled last season’s unbeaten run in the finale, March 20.

Replicating last season’s streak is already off the table, which allows the Fords to focus on building the new identity of the 2016 squad.

The defections are numerous. Top scorer and All-Delco Grant Ament (110 points), do-everything midfielder and Daily Times player of the year Drew Supinski, game-changing midfielder Phil Poquie and lockdown All-Delco defender Noah Lejman have all matriculated to elite college programs (respectively, Penn State, Johns Hopkins, Virginia, and Penn).

The cupboard isn’t bare – Nostrant ensures it never is. But this season’s challenge requires players across the board assuming new and larger roles.

Take Forry Smith, the Johns Hopkins commit who led the way with 67 goals last year. Without Supinski and Ament for defenses to key on, Smith will be tasked with duplicating his production as the focal point of opponents’ attention. The same goes for UVA-bound Dox Aitken, the top-ranked recruit in the Class of 2016 who’ll shoulder the spotlight of expectations with a thinner supporting cast than in past years.

As always, offensive weapons will shuttle in and out game to game, but the veterans at the top of the rotation should steady the output. Smith and Aitken both have future college teammates in Brendan O’Neill and Luke Desperito, respectively, who showed flashes of offensive promise but have been limited by injuries. John Nostrant and Tommy McNamara are veteran playmakers, while Alec Haas is a stalwart defensive midfielder and Keyveat Postell is an imposing physical specimen who showed great improvement with 15 goals last season.

Connor Mosebrook and Jack Marshall are upperclassmen bolstering midfield, alongside newcomers Connor Devine and freshman Peter Garno. Sophomores Payton Hollway and T.J. Malone can also contribute to the attack.

Compensating for defensive losses could be most arduous. The bright side is that goaltender Alex DeMarco made tremendous progress last season and has the talent to paper over some of the rearguard cracks.

Episcopal Academy faces the difficult task of replacements on both ends of the field, from three-time All-Delco attackman Curtis Zappala to starting goalie Colin Reder.

Jake Floyd-Jones steps into the latter role, but the former is more difficult to compensate for. Freshman Gabriel Furey will contribute, while veterans like Conor Ringwalt, C.J. McAnally, Dan Baker and Brandon Kopen will help replace the production.

All-Delco Christian Feliziani remains a dominant force at the faceoff X.

Ten wins and a spot in the Catholic League playoffs constituted a strong starting point for John Patterson at Cardinal O’Hara last season, and with a bulk of those components back on a senior-laden squad, the Lions hope to step into the next tier of the PCL hierarchy.

The backline is an area of strength, with the Triple-A defense of Anthony Amoroso, Andrew Hamilton and Alec Funchion back to protect goalie Chris Cooper. Kyle Godsey and his excellent passing ability return at the X, part of a strong midfield that includes Joe Mooney, Matt Kirby and freshman Chris Kirby.

Up front, Mike Tulskie, off 60 goals as a freshman, returns. He’ll be joined by Matt Golden and the aptly-named Tommy O’Hara.

Bonner & Prendergast hopes to build from last year’s 7-10 campaign, but coach Guy Bottomley must replace his three leading scorers. Senior attackman Ryan McDevitt (22 goals, nine assists) is the only returnee to have escaped single-digits in the goals category a season ago.

Sophomore Steven Flatley will contribute to the offense, while the hope is that senior leaders like goalie Paul O’Neill and defenseman Sekajipo Taplah will make the Friars difficult to score on.

Archbishop Carroll has a new coach in Luke Wiles, who replaces Brendan Dwyer. The Patriots are coming off a 9-9 season.

Tom Speer takes over at Interboro, inherited plenty of experience from predecessor Justin McQuaid.

Though leading scorer Dave Kilgore has graduated, Speer returns the top two playmakers from last year in Chris Hummel (45 goals, 19 assists) and Nate Murtha (21 and 18). Senior midfielders Kevin Oreskovich and Jake Pfaff will boost the offensive potency, while Murtha and fellow junior Jimmy Moorhead are the primary figures in attack. Sophomore Michael Porreca will contribute in midfield, as well.

Senior D.J. Drohan is the leader of the defense, aided by LSM Brett McLaughlin.