For the first time in two years the South Lyon Unified Boys Lacrosse team has the coaching staff set and they are already working to prepare for the 2018 season. Tryouts begin on March 12.
The team had a record of 14-6 last year, despite coaching changes and player suspensions. They finished among the top 15 teams in the state, after a loss in the sweet 16 to Brighton.
Head Coach Justin Boughton said he is very excited for the upcoming 2019 class and thinks they are very talented after seeing them perform at the JV level.
“I think they have the most drive. They went 17 and 0 and just seem hungry,” he said.
The team is currently weightlifting and conditioning to become better as a unit. The captains are also scheduling captain practices during the week to practice on stick skills and work on the team’s chemistry. Weights and conditioning are on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays from 6 to 8 p.m. at South Lyon East High School.
Junior captain Nick Harvath said, “The team is planning on weightlifting, hitting the wall, shooting, having plenty of captain practices for everyone to get their stick in their hand and playing to the best of their ability.”
After last season, the team lost 22 seniors and Harvath thinks it will affect the team just a little, but thinks they will be fine. The team will have 13 returning varsity players.
Boughton says, “I think we’re going to be, overall, better. I mean that senior class definitely had some talented individuals in it, but it also had some knuckleheads that I think brought the team down and like I said before I think the 2019 class with the upcoming juniors and some sophomores and the current seniors have better leadership.”
The team has also had a recent change in conference from the Kensington Lakes Activities Association to the Lakes Valley Conference. In this new conference they will be playing the Walled Lake, Waterford, and Huron Valley teams in conference play throughout the season.
Senior captain Silvio Scappaticci thinks the toughest part of the season will be the out of conference match against Haslett.
Boughton said,” Conference play still should be pretty competitive. Outside of our conference we’re going to have 8 good games, pretty much playing KLAA teams again.”
