FHSAA Season Preview – District 28
Written by Lee Roggenburg on . Posted in Uncategorized.
District 28
Last year District 28 was supposed to see a two-team race as it was expected that University School would continue their improvement and challenge St. Thomas for supremacy. Instead it was St. Thomas putting together their best season in history, going undefeated for 21 and a half games on their march to the FHSAA championship game. A finals win might well have put STA in the discussion for the best season in Florida history and the fact they fell just short should do nothing to take away from how special their team was last year. Graduation will hurt STA at the statewide level but there is still a lot hanging around to make them the big favorite in district again this year.
St. Thomas Aquinas played a tremendous schedule last season; just look at who they beat . . . Lake Highland, Jupiter, Benjamin, Barron Collier twice, Saint Andrew’s, Lake Mary . . . as one used to say about the old Yankees, a veritable ‘murderer’s row’. And defeated them in style. Every game they hit double digits in goals. But there will be some holes to fill. Tuminello, Crowley, Cumella, Scimek. Lots of experience and lots of scoring and 2 All Americans. But there are some nice pieces coming back. Start with Louie Yovino, returning All American and arguably the most dynamic player in the state. Add in top goalie Michael Adler and Kevin Crowley on attack/middie. But they were hit last week as freshman phenom long pole Noah Cash was lost for the season with an injury.
Coach Terry Crowley also noted “Senior Nick Borodiak (Tampa) big strong and fast, while senior Brody Speno is a stand out defensemen and senior Matt McCawley (Young Harris) will start on defense.”
As for the season Coach Crowley mentioned that American Heritage Plantation might be the most improved team in the state and that the key goal for the season is to “Win the last game”.
NSU University School slumped to a disappointing 7-11 record in 2015 after going 13-4 the year before as the offense struggled to score against the better teams on what was clearly an upgraded schedule. There were some nice wins over Cypress Bay and Ransom Everglade and a few tough losses against Belen Jesuit and Saint John Paul II but there were also some real headscratchers on the losing side. If they can find a way to improve their offensive output they could turn it around pretty quickly.
Coach Jan Northrop will look for offense towards Max Hermann – Attack 2017, Sam Oshinsky – Midfield 2017 and Wyatt Martin – Attack – 2018 for production and the brother tandem of Matt (senior) and Kyle (sophomore) Gittelman at Base defense/LSM.
Coach Northrop also gave us his thoughts: “St. Thomas should be the team to beat again this year. Chad Moore has done a great job at American Heritage Plantation, and there should be a special rivalry there. Several of the players play together on a club travel team so they have known each other and played together for a long time.
We have team goals, but our main goal is to take one game at a time and focus on controlling our own actions and being the best at what we do.”
American Heritage-Plantation is a program to watch out for this year. A seasoned head coach in Chad Moore came aboard and turned a 4-13 team into a 9-6 team in one season but the season ended on a down note as University avenged a one-goal regular season win with a thumping in the district first round. The program has been given resources by the school and it will be interesting to see how they come back this year.
South Plantation managed a nice turnaround in 2015 as they went 7-8 after going 2-13 in the previous season. Three of the losses were by two goals or less, so the turnaround could have been even more dramatic.
Second year head coach Mike Collins looks to continue the progress and highlighted the following players: “Senior Midfielder Dillon Neir . . . very fast, great leadership, impact player. Senior Long Pole Zach Sjogreen, big body, very athletic, defensive leader. Freshman Goalie Jayce Collins, top incoming freshman goalie, very experienced with quick reflexes. Junior Midfielder Silvio Leal, quick, smart.”
He also observed: “St.Thomas is the team to beat. They have a ton of great coaching and great athletes!
Plantation is our rival. We will play them twice.
Our defense is very tough and I expect the offense to be more aggressive and we should produce more points this season. Very excited for this season as this years’ seniors will have been involved in lacrosse as a Varsity sport for 4 years.”
Plantation High struggled to a 1-10 record in their second season as a program but did manage to post their first win over an 8-win Immokalee and played to one-goal losses to new program St. Brendan and South Plantation over their last 4 games so they can hang their hats on a nice end to the season. Rome wasn’t built in a day and neither will Plantation but right now at least there’s some possibilities down the line.
Coach Robert Heon will take the helm this year.
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St. Thomas Aquinas played a tremendous schedule last season; just look at who they beat . . . Lake Highland, Jupiter, Benjamin, Barron Collier twice, Saint Andrew’s, Lake Mary . . . as one used to say about the old Yankees, a veritable ‘murderer’s row’. And defeated them in style. Every game they hit double digits in goals. But there will be some holes to fill. Tuminello, Crowley, Cumella, Scimek. Lots of experience and lots of scoring and 2 All Americans. But there are some nice pieces coming back. Start with Louie Yovino, returning All American and arguably the most dynamic player in the state. Add in top goalie Michael Adler and Kevin Crowley on attack/middie. But they were hit last week as freshman phenom long pole Noah Cash was lost for the season with an injury.
Coach Terry Crowley also noted “Senior Nick Borodiak (Tampa) big strong and fast, while senior Brody Speno is a stand out defensemen and senior Matt McCawley (Young Harris) will start on defense.”
As for the season Coach Crowley mentioned that American Heritage Plantation might be the most improved team in the state and that the key goal for the season is to “Win the last game”.
NSU University School slumped to a disappointing 7-11 record in 2015 after going 13-4 the year before as the offense struggled to score against the better teams on what was clearly an upgraded schedule. There were some nice wins over Cypress Bay and Ransom Everglade and a few tough losses against Belen Jesuit and Saint John Paul II but there were also some real headscratchers on the losing side. If they can find a way to improve their offensive output they could turn it around pretty quickly.
Coach Jan Northrop will look for offense towards Max Hermann – Attack 2017, Sam Oshinsky – Midfield 2017 and Wyatt Martin – Attack – 2018 for production and the brother tandem of Matt (senior) and Kyle (sophomore) Gittelman at Base defense/LSM.
Coach Northrop also gave us his thoughts: “St. Thomas should be the team to beat again this year. Chad Moore has done a great job at American Heritage Plantation, and there should be a special rivalry there. Several of the players play together on a club travel team so they have known each other and played together for a long time.
We have team goals, but our main goal is to take one game at a time and focus on controlling our own actions and being the best at what we do.”
American Heritage-Plantation is a program to watch out for this year. A seasoned head coach in Chad Moore came aboard and turned a 4-13 team into a 9-6 team in one season but the season ended on a down note as University avenged a one-goal regular season win with a thumping in the district first round. The program has been given resources by the school and it will be interesting to see how they come back this year.
South Plantation managed a nice turnaround in 2015 as they went 7-8 after going 2-13 in the previous season. Three of the losses were by two goals or less, so the turnaround could have been even more dramatic.
Second year head coach Mike Collins looks to continue the progress and highlighted the following players: “Senior Midfielder Dillon Neir . . . very fast, great leadership, impact player. Senior Long Pole Zach Sjogreen, big body, very athletic, defensive leader. Freshman Goalie Jayce Collins, top incoming freshman goalie, very experienced with quick reflexes. Junior Midfielder Silvio Leal, quick, smart.”
He also observed: “St.Thomas is the team to beat. They have a ton of great coaching and great athletes!
Plantation is our rival. We will play them twice.
Our defense is very tough and I expect the offense to be more aggressive and we should produce more points this season. Very excited for this season as this years’ seniors will have been involved in lacrosse as a Varsity sport for 4 years.”
Plantation High struggled to a 1-10 record in their second season as a program but did manage to post their first win over an 8-win Immokalee and played to one-goal losses to new program St. Brendan and South Plantation over their last 4 games so they can hang their hats on a nice end to the season. Rome wasn’t built in a day and neither will Plantation but right now at least there’s some possibilities down the line.
Coach Robert Heon will take the helm this year.
Back to main preview page
