Farmingdale State Men's Lacrosse 2009 Preview
- Maxwell, Leone and Zuar to captain Rams -
Farmingdale, N.Y. – The Farmingdale State
men’s lacrosse team opens up the season on March 1 and has
many new faces on the roster. The Rams lost five games last season
by a combined seven goals, on their way to a 3-10 record in
Tuttle's first season. With ten players returning and a large
recruiting class, Coach Tuttle hopes to produce more wins in
‘09.
The captains this year will be senior attackman Sean Maxwell (West
Babylon, N.Y./NYIT), senior goalkeeper Teddy Leone (East Meadow,
N.Y./East Meadow) and sophomore midfielder Adam Zuar (Lindenhurst,
N.Y./Lindenhurst). Both Maxwell and Leone were named Second Team
All-Skyline in 2008. Maxwell scored 22 goals and Zuar was the
teams’ top-faceoff man.
Joining the captains in leading this years squad are sophomores
Joey Stroessenreuther (Bethpage, N.Y./Bethpage) and Eddie Rifice
(Babylon, N.Y./Babylon). After leading the Rams in scoring in
’08, both will look to step it up even more this season.
Stroessenreuther, the teams’ #1 returning midfielder, scored
31 points last year, while Rifice, one of our go-to attackman,
scored 20 goals in 2008.
Tuttle has a few key transfers to his roster who should bulk up
the defensive end of the field. Junior midfielder Mike Maxwell
(West Babylon, N.Y./NYIT), a 6-2, 200 pound transfer from NYIT,
brings some size to the midfield, which Tuttle says was lacking a
year ago. Freshman defender Bobby Lazos (Holy Trinity, N.Y./Molloy)
is a good position defenseman with a great stick. Freshman defender
Chris JapNgie (Massapequa, N.Y./Holy Trinity), is transfer from
Alfred College who played football last year at Alfred, but returns
to lacrosse in ’09 and will likely be seen as a crease
defenseman.
The freshman standouts for Coach Tuttle in the fall were freshman
defender/long stick Will Valasiadis (Glen Head, N.Y./North Shore),
freshman attackman/midfielder Eric Thompson (Floral Park,
N.Y./Floral Park) and freshman goaltender Patrick Delventhal
(Westbury, N.Y./Holy Trinity).
Coach Tuttle mentioned of these freshmen, "Valasiadis, an
All-County defenseman, has great speed and could play down low or
at the midfield, he checks hard and plays great position. Thompson,
an Honorable Mention All-American in high school, stands at 6'3"
and 210 pounds. He is a threat to go to goal every time, but he
also sees the field well and can carry the ball to feed. Delventhal
led Holy Trinity to two Catholic League Championships; he had a
good fall season and will compete for the starting goalie spot with
senior Teddy Leone."
The Rams open up their 2009 campaign at home on the new FieldTurf
against Plattsburgh State on Sunday, March 1st at 1:00 p.m. They
continue through March on a seven-game homestand, hosting teams
such as Oswego State, Wesleyan and Division II Molloy College.
Starting off the month of April, they will travel to play Dominican
College (also Division II) and Richard Stockton, before coming back
for another four games at home. They wrap up the regular season
with a conference game away against Mount Saint Vincent on April
29th.
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