Last year, the South Brunswick High School boys’ lacrosse team was an offensive powerhouse, with scoring up and down the lineup. Having graduated 218 goals, however, this year’s team has had a more concentrated attack, led by several key players.
“This was to be expected,” says coach Mark Ziminski. “We were extremely balanced last year, with some tremendous offensive players, and we’re not spreading the ball around as much. But we’re still hoping to hang in there, hold our own and come away with a third straight county title.”
The Vikings, now 13-4, took a step in that direction with a 25-3 victory over J.P. Stevens of Edison in Monday’s quarterfinals of the Greater Middlesex Conference Tournament. Wednesday, SBHS will face East Brunswick. Ziminski’s crew beat the Bears 16-7 on May 6.
As the coach points out, the Viking offense is largely powered by three veterans: senior forwards Shane Foley and Zach Zenda, and junior attacker Cody McHugh. Foley entered the Stevens game with 46 goals and 12 assists and a .561 shot percentage. McHugh had 38 goals and 10 assists along with a .442 mark, while Zenda had 40 points on 31 goals, nine assists and a .419 percentage. The next-highest scorer, Timothy Doehler, had 24 points going into the GMCs, via eight goals and 16 assists.
As for other key performers, senior Jeff White is a three-year starter and captain with five goals, while senior Luke Zabel is the goalie.
“Those kids will have to play well for us to do well in the semifinals Wednesday,” says Ziminski.
Of course, the other defenders will also be crucial – a group including Eric Lorber, a senior, and juniors Travis Hayes and Steve Cirillo.
“These guys are the core veterans, but we have a lot of new guys stepping in to take the place of people we lost last season,” adds the Vikings coach.
Going down the rest of the roster, SBHS features Taylor Denno, who has seven goals and a couple of assists,Michael Ferrara,who has four goals, Zack Fingerhut, Brian Foley, a four-goal scorer, along with Jon Foss who has tallied three times.
Others include Matt Klayman, Anthony Little, Michael Lopez, Brian Presti, Alex Reinfeldt and Tyler Smith.
Ziminski is assisted by five-year veteran Nick Schmidt, an extremely savvy coach who, he says, has been invaluable to the club’s efforts this season.
“He’s done a great job keeping our offense going,” Ziminski says.
Overall, South Brunswick has 174 goals, just under 10 per game.
Ziminski knows the championship season will be a challenge, but he remains optimistic.
“The games we’ve lost have been to outstanding teams ranked among the best in the state, including Don Bosco Prep, the Peddie School and St. Joseph’s of Metuchen,” he says. “I’m very pleased with the way we’ve played, and I’m hoping we can get by East Brunswick.”