Madison Turning to Young Players to Spark Boys Lacrosse

After a tremendous 2010 campaign that saw the lacrosse team ring up a 16-5 record and second-place finishes in both the county and state tournaments, a new-look Dodgers squad is gearing up for a repeat performance in 2011.
 
With vacancies created in the Madison starting 10 following the departure of last year's seniors—notably the attack duo of Charlie Oldendorp and Austin Lein—head coach Mark Sweeney and his staff must assess an influx of new talent.

Those changes on offense, coupled with a revamped defense, makes it essential that Madison’s underclassmen take on a more important role.

“We’ve got some young guys that have got to step up and work in,” Sweeney explained. “We’ve basically lost our whole defense, except goalie, so there’s a lot of new guys that have got to step up.”

And while Sweeney has some questions early on, the longtime Madison coach says that it’s business as usual.

“It’s the same [every year],” he said, “because we’re a small school and every year we’re going to lose two, three or four good players. The new guys have to step up and we need to be ready to play.”

Along with the seemingly unknown, Sweeney also has certainty, as his squad flaunts elite talent at numerous positions on the field.

Among the top talent are senior tri-captains Colin McLinden, George Thompson and Brett Anton, each of whom has signed letters of intent to play on the college level.
 
McLinden, one of the Dodgers’ most productive weapons a year ago, will again be counted on as a main facilitator of the offensive attack.

While McLinden says the Dodgers aren’t where they want to be just yet, he’s confident that they’ll eventually get there.

“We’ve just got to keep working hard,” he said. “It’s the beginning of the season right now, but in the middle of the season our chemistry will be a lot better. We’ve got a few underclassmen like Colin Scarpella, a sophomore, and Chris Scarpella who’s a freshman, playing. If they can get some experience then I think we’ll be alright.”

On the other end of the field, Thompson and Anton will bolster the new look Dodger defense, with both taking on altered roles in 2011.
 
Thompson, who makes the move from long stick to close defense, is confident that the change in defensive responsibility will help communication with Anton and his other defensemen.

And while he knows that it won’t be easy, the senior thinks this team is capable of being very good.

“It’s going to be tough, but I think we can do it if we communicate and work hard,” he said. “Defense always has to take on its own responsibility, losing starters like Charlie and Austin is big, but I think our offense is capable of overcoming that.”

Anton’s new role this season doesn't come with a position change, but rather, the Madison goalie will have an increase in playing time.
 
Last season, Anton and senior Ryan Colwell split games, each playing a half in net. With Colwell graduated, Anton gets the responsibility of playing the entire game, something that he says he's looking forward to doing,

“It boosts my confidence a little bit,” Anton said. “I get to command the defense for the whole game and we can get a flow. I’m feeling pretty good about this team. We lost some guys on defense, but I think once the season gets going, we’re going to have pretty good chemistry.”

Sweeney also has a number of other players who he expects to make an impact this year including seniors Chad Smith, Spencer Waresk, Mike Staneart, as well as juniors Mike Clemente, Billy Battaglia and Eamon Epstein, and sophomore Brian Scarpello.

“We lost a couple of really good players,” Sweeney said, “but we’ve got Colin McLinden back, Billy Battaglia gave us a lot last year, Chad Smith gave us a lot last year and Mike Clemente. So there are four guys in the starting six on offense that played a lot of minutes last year. We just have to jell.”

“We need intensity from everybody, we need our experienced players to really step up and the young kids that really know how to play, now it’s their time,” Sweeney added.