Lacrosse preview

(E-town's lacrosse captains are, from left, Keith Kurtz, Phil Roeder and Ben Gotwalt).

Head Coach: Matt Reesor, first year.

2007 Record: 1-13 overall.

Key Returners: Ben Gotwalt, co-captain, senior, long stick midfield; Phil Roeder, co-captain, senior, midfield; Keith Kurtz, co-captain, senior, goalie; Matt Frye, senior, attack; Chris Klinger, senior, defense; Jeff Norton, senior, midfield; Randy Groff, junior, midfield.
After winning just one game in the past two seasons, E-town’s returning group has enough experience to now step up and continue the program’s improvement.
E-town will be strong in the midfield, with Gotwalt, Roeder, Norton and Groff leading the way there. That should allow the Bears to control the pace of a lot of games and put more goals on the board this year.
Groff and Kurtz anchor the defense and will look to improve on last year, when the Bears allowed 10 or more goals on eight occasions.
Frye will be E-town’s most potent offensive threat, and moves up from midfield to play attack for the Bears.
Reesor said he is relying on these returning players to help instill a strong work ethic in their teammates both at practices and games.

Key Newcomers: Giordano Pugliese, freshman, goalie; Josh Ginder, freshman, attack; Steven Dombrosky, freshman, attack; Joseph Clark, freshman, defense; Michael Somple, freshman, attack; Kyle Heisey, freshman, midfield.
This group of freshman is coming off of an extremely successful junior high season last year – losing only one game. That kind of winning attitude will be needed for them to adjust to the size and speed of varsity players.
Expect quite a few freshman to see some time on the field at the varsity level, as Reesor begins to build a foundation for the E-town program, which is still in its infancy – relatively speaking. But this group is learning the game and knows what it is like to be successful and that could be the start of something special at E-town.

Key Losses: Aaron McCoy, defense; David Gates, defense; Mark Stehman, midfield; Travis Winters, attack; Shawn Turzai, attack.
McCoy and Gates were two of the Bears’ better defenders last year and their presence in the back will be missed. Offensively, Winters and Turzai were both good goal scorers. Because of their departure, some players who played midfield last year will be moving up to attack this season.

What they do well: Defend.
Although the Bears lost two key defenders from last year, they are most experienced on defense.
“We have a strong focus and understanding on the defensive end,” Reesor said. Our best athletes are on defense and the defensive group has a solid lacrosse IQ and strive to be better each day.”
It’s also a bunch that is extremely smart and that isn’t afraid to get physical – two key traits that you need in a good defense. With the Bears seemingly lacking a bit on offense, the defense will need to play that much better if E-town is going to win some more games this season.

What they need to work on: Scoring.
E-town’s two best scorers are gone and the Bears are still searching for someone to step up and replace them. The main problem is that E-town doesn’t have a lot of experience when it comes to running the offense and that has resulted in the entire timing of the offense being off (running play, cutting to the ball, etc.).
Reesor said the offensive players also need to work on their stick skills and their overall knowledge, which should improve with game experience. But above all, someone on the team has to step up and take control of the offense. E-town needs a player they can rely on game-in and game-out to score goals and put pressure on opposing defenses. That player hasn’t shown up quite yet, but that doesn’t mean he won’t appear once games get started.

Outlook: The No. 1 way to build a competitive program year in and year out is to have consistency in the coaching staff. That’s something that the Bears haven’t had lately and, as a result, they are 1-25 in the last two seasons. But it appears that Reesor and his staff are committed to the Elizabethtown program and to building it from the youth level on up, an excellent sign for them.
Expect Reesor, who was a coach at Elizabethtown College last season, to instill a winning philosophy in the program immediately. The past is the past for E-town and instead of glancing in the rear view mirror, they’ve got their eyes on the highway in front of them. While not only implementing a gameplan that the Bears will need to be successful, Reesor and his staff are also stressing the importance of playing the game the right way.
“(We want) to focus on team play, to play with class and pride while playing hard and paying attention to details,” he said. “We expect to take steps forward in getting E-town lacrosse back at a competitive level.”
It isn’t going to happen overnight, but the program is headed in the right direction. This season, expect E-town to win more games than it did a year ago, possibly hitting the five-win mark, but, most importantly, getting better and better as the year progresses.
This could be the start of the journey toward the playoffs for the Bears.