Above – The Lions top scoring middie, Chad Marion, returns for his senior season.

The first thing we noticed when Saint Leo took the field for the Lax Vs Cancer game against Tampa was a pair of Florida seniors who have been doing some solid work for this team for a long time.  Will Cothron, out of Trinity Catholic- Ocala, has been doing the heavy lifting at the “X” since he took nearly 100 face offs for the Lions his freshman year.  Between the pipes was Dave Moore.  He has been the starter at Saint Leo since he showed up on campus in the fall of 2012.   Moore has been All Conference every year and was the Deep South Conference “Freshman of the Year” during the 2013 season.

Head Coach Brad Jorgenson was very pleased with the physical play of his team and we agree.  They looked fast and have some solid play makers.  But he admitted the mental aspect of the game needs more work.  They turned the ball over on clears a few times and didn’t always make the smart decision with the ball on offense.  “You practice against yourself for five weeks but then it’s a lot harder when you’re not playing against the same guys,” he said.

Adding to that challenge is the fact that some of the more promising player makers are also young.  Sophomore Jake Gilmour at attack returns after an “all SSC Freshman” team rookie year that saw him score 28 goals and 14 assists to become the second leading scorer on the team. The Ontario native plays a high risk – high reward style common among players with an extensive box background that can make coaches crazy.  He’s an exciting player to watch when he gets the ball near the GLE and made some nice plays getting inside.  But he also forced a few ill-advised feeds that missed the mark and became turnovers.  Jorgenson was quick to point out that with a super talented player like Gilmour you have to be careful, “You can’t correct too much or will take him out of the game.” The Lions also return leading scorer Dylan Yonts.  Yonts scored an impressive 48 points in 2015 during an SSC 1st Team All Conference season.  Along with Yonts and Gilmour, the Lions bring back the teams top scoring middie (third highest on the team) Chad Marino. The Lions had a couple of freshman running on a midfield line together.   “Peter (Bashar) and Justing (Robinson) are very good players,” Jorgenson said.  The pair ran with seasoned veteran, senior Matt Weller, for much of the day but at this point lines are far from set. Jorgenson sees his defense getting much better.  He’s excited to get back a pair of very talented short stick middies in Rob Cavanaugh and Matt Rexford.  The talented pair of short stick defenders both missed last season and, as any defensive coordinator will tell you, that’s a position that has got to be solid.  The short stick middies are the guys that get dodged on the most and losing two starters at that position can change an entire defense. Along with the return of Cavanaugh and Rexford  the Lions also have better depth at close defense this season.  He’s looking for veteran defenders like Andrew Rohle and Tyler Vedas to step up and have big senior seasons. Saint Leo is hosting National Champion Limestone for their second game of the season.  The Lions are happy to have Limestone back on the schedule after being unable to make a date work last season.  The Lions should enjoy the month of March as they enjoy seven straight home games including big out of conference games against Pfieffer, Colorado Mesa, and C.W. Post.