March 3, 2010
No easy path in R.I.
Quakers will have a tough time dominating again
by Kevin Henkin/
If you’re the Moses Brown boys lacrosse team, what do you do for an encore?
Last year, the Quakers dominated Division I wire-to-wire and culminated a 14-1 season with a convincing 10-5 championship game win over Bishop Hendricken. This year, however, the path may not be so easy.
For starters, the Quakers will head into 2010 with a new coach, after the departure of Peter Sheehan, a long-time fixture at Moses Brown generally considered the architect of the program. The Quakers now will be led by Mike Fraioli, an assistant under Sheehan since 2008.
Fortunately for Fraioli, he has a formidable lineup returning this year to defend the title. The loss of All-America midfielder Ian Deveau hurts, but the Quakers return the best goalie in the state in Nick Capalbo, who posted a .659 save percentage in 2009. Back to lead the offense are attackmen Matt Hooper and David Appalonia and midfielder Wes Hardman, who was the title game’s MVP last year with a four-goal performance. Providence College-bound defender Joe Gorgi — an all-state player in 2009 — will lead the protection in front of Capalbo.
Posing the biggest threat to Moses Brown is La Salle Academy, which went 12-2 last year, but lost 14-12 in a stunning upset to heavy underdogs Bishop Hendricken in the state semifinals.
Other teams expected to be in the Division I mix are North Kingstown and Bishop Hendricken, each of which lost All-Americans in Ben Sternberg and Teddy Pekalsi respectively and have those leadership voids to fill.
Aiming for improvement this year will be Barrington, Portsmouth and Providence Country Day.
In Division II, Mount Hope (8-5) and Mount St. Charles (8-4) head into 2010 as the favorites again after facing off in the championship game last spring. Defending champion Mount Hope pins its hopes on All-State midfielder Alan Williams and defender Karsten Moritz, both of whom earned First Team All-Division honors as juniors in 2009. Mount St. Charles answers with long stick middie Shane Dunphy and a deep crew of talented and physical players. Prout expects to play the role of dark horse under new head coach Tim Ryan, while Narragansett, Lincoln and Wheeler look to overcome heavy graduation losses by relying on younger unproven rosters.
The chase for the Division III crown has no clear favorites heading into the new season. Cumberland (12-4) and Middletown (14-2) both will try to replicate their regular-season dominance and return to the championship game, but the teams from East Greenwich, Toll Gate, South Kingstown, Smithfield and East Providence will attempt to separate from the middle of the pack. Scituate, Tiverton and Warwick Veterans Memorial likely will be satisfied with just getting into the hunt this year.
In Rhode Island girls lacrosse, until proven otherwise, Barrington is the singular power in Division I. Having won eight state titles in the past nine years — including last year, when the team finished 13-3 — Barrington returns another formidable team in 2010. Having lost only three starters to graduation, the Eagles could have as many as 10 returning seniors. They will rely most heavily on attacker Becky Bracken — whom many coaches believe is the best player in the state — and goalie Avery Griffith.
Moses Brown, the only team to defeat Barrington for the state title in the past decade (that was in 2008) graduated two All-Americans in Lauren O’Brien and Leah Saris but will look to younger sister and emerging star Hannah Saris to lead the way back to title contention.
North Kingstown (8-5), which lost a 10-9 heartbreaker to Barrington in the state championship last year, has some big shoes to fill with the graduation of its best players in midfielders Taylor Bastien and Carol Records. Coach Keith Higgins will rely on seniors Haily Sousa and Newlin Tillotson to fill the midfield void. East Greenwich and La Salle also are coming back with strong teams, while Portsmouth is expected to bounce back from a tough season.
In Division II, St. Mary’s-Bay View has the strongest returning squad and will look to avenge a 13-9 loss to Prout in last year’s title game. Prout will face changes, with a new coach and a substantially replaced defensive core after heavy graduation losses. Mount Hope (9-5) and Cranston West (9-7) also are considered to be in the mix for contention while Narragansett, Cumberland and Lincoln will aim to emerge from the bottom.
Division III girls represents the largest division of high school lacrosse in Rhode Island with 12 teams vying for the title. Last year, South Kingstown (13-1) took the championship 9-6 over Warwick Veterans Memorial, but the Rebels will be without goalie Megan Kenyon in ’10. λ
