Borsch promoted to head boys’ coach at Lower Merion; seeks two assistant coaches

By Chris Goldberg
Phillylacrosse.com, Posted 1/10/12

Mike Borsch has been named the head boys’ lacrosse coach at Lower Merion.

Borsch was the varsity administrative coach last year, basically serving as a co-coach with Casey O’Rourke, who oversaw the on-the-field coaching. O’Rourke resigned due to time constraints with his full-time job.

Borsch served as Lower Merion’s JV coach in 2009-10 under Chet Laubach, who resigned after the 2010 campaign and will now serve as defensive coordinator. Borsch, a 1995 Strath Haven grad who played club lacrosse at Bloomsburg, later started a club program at Penn State-Delaware County.

Borsch believes the young Aces were one of the area’s most improved teams from the beginning of last year until the end. Lower Merion went 7-4 in its last 11 games and closed the year with a victory over Pennsbury, which later advanced to the state playoffs.

“Last year was a rebuilding year where we brought in some young and talented freshmen and some sophomores that hadn’t gotten a lot of playing time because of the crew that was there,” he said. “We have a lot of strengths on offense and we want to capitalize on the team approach. We want everyone to help out with scoring.”

The Aces also return most of their defense, but do lose long pole Alex Klincewicz, who is at Loyola.

“Defensively, we haven’t lost anybody except Alex, but he was our main transition player,” said Borsch. “We’ll have to rely on midfielders for downfield transition. We do have some talented guys there.”

With the added experience and a strong off-season, Borsch is confident the Aces will be a serious contender in the Central League.

“We lost a couple overtime games (to Penncrest and Strath Haven) and there were a couple one-game games we could gave won,” said Borsch. “I see us high up there.

“We have been working very hard in the off season and we are way more consistent than the previous year. We had a good summer league showing and did well in the fall league and now we’re in winter league. We have a real strength and conditioning program we haven’t had before.

“We’re hoping to develop not just a team, but a family. We hope to be healthy wealthy and wise and make the right decisions in school, out of school and in the community.”

Borsch seeks to assistants, one to be directly involved in the offense and one to coach the JV. Interested candidates should e-mail him at borschm@lmsd.org.