Posted: Feb 26, 2013

Men’s Lacrosse 2013 Preview

Paxton, Mass. - Year two of the Great Northeast Athletic Conference era in Anna Maria lacrosse has the potential to be the best season thus far. That's saying quite a bit when you look and see what the AMCATS accomplished last season. Last year, Coach Lange led the AMCATS to their first winning season and a double digit win total. Anna Maria finished third in the GNAC regular season standings, qualifying for the post-season for the first time in program history. After an opening round victory over Becker College the AMCATS run to the title fell a bit short ending in the semi-final round to eventual champion Mount Ida College.

However, the 2013 version of Anna Maria lacrosse has talent to take the program to new heights.

The offense is led by four seasoned veterans who include high-scoring midfielder Chris Summers (Long Valley, NJ), the multi-talented Jason Baker (Billerica, MA), emotional leader David Marsh (Boston, MA) and returning after missing last season with an injury, Rod Henriques (Saugus, MA). Summers currently sits second on the all-time scoring list at Anna Maria with 77 goals and 103 points and will be the top option for Coach Lange this season. With Marsh, Baker and Henrigues, Coach Lange has three smart and talented senior that are no strangers to putting points on the board themselves.

In addition to these gifted upperclassmen, the offense will get a jump start from the addition of two incoming freshman, midfielder Scott Henry (Warwick, RI) and attackmen Lucas Stralka (East Greenwich, RI). Both of these players fit in nicely with the rest of the offensive squad and look to be major contributors right away. Joining these players on offense will be sophomore attack Keegan Gorman (Newburyport, MA), transfer Rex Wall (Hyannis, MA) and sophomore Allan Plaunt (Marlborough, MA).

On Defense, the AMCATS return a plethora of starting defensemen from last year's squad including two year captain and savvy veteran Pat Lewis (Norwich, CT). Joining Lewis on the backline are captain and 2012 First Team All-GNAC Selection Kyle Falkenmeyer (Unadilla, NY) and sophomore Nathan Batallas (Baldwinville, MA).

The AMCATS will rely on a crew of players to fill depth at the close defense position as they look to lean on newcomer Frank Russo (Scituate, MA) to contribute right away at long stick midfield. Seniors Mark Sawyer (Gardner, MA) and Justin Edson (Epping, NJ) as well as sophomore Richard Trappe (Beacon, NY) look to be strong contributors at short stick defense when called upon.

Jacob Parker returns to the face-off circle, where he improved each game last game each season where by the end of the year he could compete with the top face-off men in the GNAC.

Between the pipes, Anna Maria will rely heavily on a pair of freshman to replace the graduated Andrew Ellis. Josh Giarratano (Warwick, RI) and Joseph Morris (Medford, MA) have been in a battle for the starting spot since the fall and will continue to push each other to new heights daily in both games and practices.

Ellis, whom reprinted the record books while at AMC, will now pace the sideline with Coach Lange and assistant coach Pat Cavanaugh who returns for his second season.

After winning their first post-season game in the program history last season, the AMCATS hope the 2013 campaign takes them deep into the GNAC Tournament.

Anna Maria opens up the 2013 schedule on the road on Thursday, March 28th when they travel to Clark University for a 4:00 pm tilt.

Outlook courtesy of Mark Lange, Head Coach/Lacrosse Coordinator