By Justin Feil, The Packet Group
Other than the weather, Mark Wilson has really liked what he has seen in preseason practices for the Hillsborough High School boys lacrosse team.
The Raiders open the season with a stiff early test today at Hunterdon Central. Things won’t really lighten up with Moorestown visiting Saturday and then Hopewell Valley coming in Monday.
”I’d rather get right into it and see how we go,” said Wilson, who begins his ninth season as Raiders head coach. “How you play in May will be most important. But at least we’ll get a good litmus test right off the bat of where we stand.”
The Raiders were 6-13 last year, but three of their losses came by three goals or fewer, and Hillsborough was playing with a young lineup that has continued to develop.
”Our team is relatively intact from last year because we were sophomore heavy with some freshmen too,” Wilson said. “We have juniors and some seniors now. Mostly everybody are plug back in guys. We’re able to expand on the things we were able to learn last year. Hopefully we can take a step forward as the guys are more mature. They are back and ready to improve on last season.”
The Raiders feel that last year’s experiences will go a long way. Hillsborough wasn’t far off from having a different sort of season. They lost five of their games last year by three goals or fewer.
”We played a lot relatively close games, or games close until the end,” Wilson said. “The guys we have now are ready to play the sort of four-quarter competitive Skyland Conference games that we need to in order to be successful. I feel like their knowledge is expanded from last year greatly. They’re asking questions. They’re being more of leaders on the field as opposed to guys out on the field just figuring it out.”
If last year was a head-spinning year for the Raiders’ youth, Wilson is hopeful that this year’s team will turn some heads outside the program. The make-up is there for a breakout season.
”I feel like we are deep, but we kept a small number of guys on the team,” Wilson said. “It’s one of those teams where everyone will play a lot. We’ll probably play three lines of middies. We have four guys that we feel good about facing off. We’re going to rotate six poles through and four attackmen. We only have 22 guys on the roster, but probably 20 or 21 will play. That’s more than typically play for me.
”We’re pretty solid top to bottom. It’s good. It’s good competition in practice. It’s been fun.”
What Wilson is most encouraged by is the balance front to back of the team. Throughout the roster are guys that are going to bring something to the team, and they are ready to elevate their play. On defense, the Raiders have a lot of experience and leadership.
”We lost a great goalie, Anthony Stavrakis, but Tom Mahoney, the junior starter, we knew we could have started him last year,” Wilson said. “He played a good game late in the season against CBA when we were giving a couple guys some rest. He’s a very capable guy. He’s going to be a college goalie.
”On defense, we have three seniors — two close defenders Will Strawderman and Kyle Bergan, and another senior who was a JV guy last year, but was the captain of the JV team — John Grouse. He’s our back-up goalie, longstick middie. He wasn’t a factor at all last year and he’ll be a big factor this year.”
Wilson has a lot of confidence in how the Raiders can transition and play in front of their defense. The midfield and attack will still be a little on the young side, but they has experience.
”Our midfield is full of juniors,” Wilson said. “Senior Mike Shapiro, he’s the guy that will keep them steady. We have a couple juniors on attack who are led by another senior, Dan Ziminski.
”We have a small senior class, but they’re up and down the middle of the field. Our starting defensive middie is Andrew Caruso, our other senior. They’re spread out throughout the team and they’re doing a good job of providing leadership.”
At least three of the six seniors will be continuing to play in college next year, but for now they are focused on elevating the Raiders to prominence in a tough Skyland Conference. There are no easy games for Hillsborough.
”I anticipate everybody to be strong again,” Wilson said. “Pingry rebounded from two years ago to be really strong and I don’t see them dropping off. Bridgewater and Ridge were good and they had some strong underclassmen. Hunterdon Central started two sophomores on attack so they’ll be back. Moorestown only graduated a couple guys so they’ll be good too.
”All the teams will be tough. And some of these teams that weren’t as strong as they’ve been, Montgomery has two Division I committed players, Jamie Lovejoy will keep getting Watchung Hills better, and North Hunterdon is getting better. I think the best team in the conference could have two losses, not because everybody is down. Everybody is that good.”
Wilson is hoping that his team has what it takes to be in the mix. He likes their skill and the Raiders also have some intangibles in their favor.
”We definitely have enough weapons to do it,” Wilson said. “We have a bunch of guys that had a really successful football season that are really chomping at the bit to keep that momentum going. A lot of times, schools get on a run with their boys or girls sports. With bringing the attitude of success, it’s not just fall guys, it’s guys like Kyle Bergen, who is a basketball player too, they may demand more in locker room. That winning creates momentum that carries the guys into the next season. They get a taste of it.”
The Raiders are looking for a big jump from a year ago. They have some talent, and the Raiders see more potential for this season because of having last year’s experience.
”One simple factor is some of these sophomores who are juniors are bigger, stronger, faster,” Wilson said. “Dillon Zimmerman, Connor James, Thomas Boland, they’re junior attackmen, these guys are in really good shape and committed to training in the offseason and they grew. We’re a much physically stronger team than last year. These guys were talented last year, that’s why they were on varsity. Now when they combine their physical maturity with what they learned last year, they’re going to be that much better. I don’t think I ever had as many underclassmen on varsity as I did last year.”
The Raiders open the regular season today with a renewed outlook. They are ready to show how far they have come in the last year, and just why they are so optimistic.
”I think the biggest edge is everybody being in the system together for a full year last year and us not having to change personnel too much and us getting better at the things we’ve been doing,” Wilson said. “Our record doesn’t reflected it, but we weren’t that far off the mark of closing things out. It was little mistakes that you get with sophomores and freshmen. They’re older and have learned from it now.
”The skill level, the physical nature of our team, its stronger with those guys going sophomore to junior year. It should help us.”
