See Districts 1 & 2, See Districts 3 & 4, See Districts 5 & 6, see Districts 7 & 8, See Districts 9 & 10, See Districts 11 & 12, See Districts 13 & 14.  See District 15.  See District 19.  See District 20. See District 23.  See District 24.   District 27   Gulf Coast has come out of the shadows and has taken its’ place among the rising programs in the state.  Last year’s team rose all the way to #7 by year end in the polls.  The improvement over last year was dramatic as they were easily handled by the better teams they played in 2013.  But a road win in mid-March over Tampa Jesuit let everyone know what was going on.  The Sharks easily put away their district rivals, setting up one of the best first round matches in the FHSAA bracket against local rival Barron Collier, where their season came to an end by the score of 8-6.   Gulf Coast’s only losses of the year were one goal and two goal losses to BC and a two-goal loss on a neutral site to Georgia powerhouse Milton.  A home win against Vero Beach also showed how far this program has come.  Head Coach Joe Meyer has responded to his team’s success by substantially stepping up their schedule, as IMG, St. Thomas Aquinas, Boca Raton, Oak Hall, Saint Andrew’s and two top Georgia state championship programs are welcomed to the schedule.  Anything close to last year’s 17-3 mark would solidify their program status.  

  Gulf Coast is again loaded with offensive talent (3^rd highest scoring team in state in 2014 at 15.95 PPG), featuring All-American Sr. Bo Garrison. Garrison (undeclared) is a big athletic middie who is a danger to score every time he touches the ball.  He is being courted by a long list of schools.  Sr. Attacker, Sterling Desorcy (Florida State) is a shifty left-handed scorer who’s ankle breaking dodges cause havoc for opposing defenses. Daniel London (undeclared) is a great dodger from X and scorer.  Add in hard shooting sniper Austin Miller (U of Cumberlands and a 2- year starter Barron Collier) and the attack line is considered one of the best in the state.  The Elgin Brothers (Nate and Andrew) provide speed and a high IQ to the midfield.  Sr. Matt Shover (undeclared) and Sophomore Luke Curran provide additional scoring for a very deep team.  The addition of Shark Football Standout Gavin Hoopes brings a fast, physical and very athletic presence to the middle of the field. The defense is outstanding and returns the core from a group that finished 3^rd in the state with a 4.30 GAA average. Senior Goalie Nick Jardone (undeclared) is a quick handed keeper whose bullet clearing passes starts the Sharks lethal fast break.  The defense is a seasoned bunch led by Sr’s. Gage Rion, Tim Monette and AJ Radunz along with Jr. Kevin Buchanan.  Rion is a fast football standout who will play FB in college and Monette is a long, quick pole who is narrowing his college lax choices.  Radunz is a lifelong hockey player who’s long size, reach and physicality adds strength to the middle.  Buchanan is a solid pole with quick hands and a threat to strip it on every possession.   Golden Gate finished with a nice 11-6 record but fell to Naples in the first round of districts.  But they will need to keep growing as their toughest opponents handled them comfortably with their best wins coming against Naples and Estero.  The entire southwest area is on the upswing and Golden Gate will need to follow.  John Hooper has take over control of the program.   Naples pretty much mirrored Golden Gate last season, as they split the regular season before winning the district playoff battle.  The 9-8 Eagles played a similar schedule and came up with similar results; beating the teams they should have and struggling with the better teams in the region.  They also nipped Estero and Canterbury-Ft. Myers and now need to improve to keep up with GC.  Belen Jesuit has been added to the schedule and Naples will travel east to Cypress Bay. Coach Kevin Myrmo wrote the following:  “We are looking forward to improving as a team with a mix of new underclassmen along with a few returning upperclassmen so we can make a strong run and play our best lacrosse as a team at the end of the season in hopes of winning a district championship!  We return our leading scorer, Junior Attackman Kieran DiGiorno and senior face off midfielder Spencer Dehn and our defense will be anchored by senior Carl Strickland.   Senior midfielder Jack Henning, signed to play lacrosse at Huntingdon College next year.”   Immokalee went 2-12 in Scott Rickard’s first year in charge.  This is a difficult area for building a program and frankly I wish Coach Rickard the best in his efforts and congratulate for taking on the task.  The team has only won 5 games in 4 years and I’d really hope for the community to get involved and help the team gain its’ footing.  

 

  One cause for following the team this year is Gerardo Lugo’s quest to become the school’s all-time leader in career points, as well as setting the all-time records for goals and assists too.  Lugo will be joined this season by returning starters Marc Galindo and Daniel Ortiz.  We’ll be following you Gerardo; good luck!     District 28   District 28 begins and ends with Barron Collier as no other team finished with more than 5 wins on the season.  #4 in the final poll.  18-2 record with the only losses being a one-goal road loss to then #1 Jupiter and the Final Eight OT loss to St. Thomas.  Returning basically every player.  Gearing to a Final Four run.  Coaching staff with serious pedigree. And after playing a much better schedule last year out of conference where they gained wins over Gulliver Prep, STA, Oxbridge, Oak Hall, Vero Beach and Gulf Coast they are adding to IMG and Georgia powers’ Milton and Lambert to the schedule.  Coach Trent Carter can call on a plethora of talent.  In his fourth year at BC he is guiding his first full class of seniors.     Senior Michael Nathan is a returning All-American at LSM and is committed to Colby.  That makes returning All-American goalie Zach Woods pretty comfortable.  Middie Drew Goodrich (Washington & Lee) and middie Jake Telitz provide firepower and two-way play.  And sophomore Pat Mahoney leads the attack. If there is one thing that Barron Collier needs to work on it would be against the tougher teams on the offensive end.  Their defense was remarkable all year, holding every opponent to 6 goals or less until STA found a way to penetrate their zone in the Final 8 thriller.  Eight times last season BC was held to single digits and it finally caught up with them in the playoffs.  A few more goals and this could be the Year of the Cougars.   Community School-Naples was the second place finisher in the district playoffs but the gap is wide and the program will need some time to start to close the gap.  Besides BC, they also played Cardinal Mooney, Gulf Coast and American Heritage/Boca out of conference so hopefully the desire is there to build the program.  Rich Lewton has taken over the reins of the program.   Palmetto Ridge finished 5-10 last season and lost in the first round of districts and struggled to score goals last year.  They hope to turn that around behind coach Dan Peltier.   Lely finished 1-13 and will look for improvement.  Coach Gary Chernow provided the following:  “The Lely team is very young and inexperienced. The success of the season will ultimately depend on how quickly the first time players can develope their stick skills, handle the speed of the game and learn field awareness.  Our top players should be Eddie Carey, Drew Fordon, Brandon Spina and Jose Prine. Success of season though will depend on how quickly the first year players develop.”