Phillylacrosse.com, Posted 3/15/23
Parkland High School
League: East Penn Conference / District 11
Coaches: Vincent Arezzi – Head Coach – 1st year as head coach at Parkland. 2 years as Parkland Assistant Coach, 7 Years as head coach of Pleasant Valley High School Boys Lacrosse
Tim Smith – Assistant Coach – Defense
Cory Andrews – Assistant Coach – Offense
2022 Record: 15-5
Opener date & opponent: 3/21/2023 vs. Nazareth High School
Key returners:
Chase Kusko, a senior captain and points leader. Drew Filipovits, senior- leading goal scorer from last year. Jake Parker – Junior – and our best dodging threat on offense.
Anthony Schultz – Senior captain – a versatile midfielder who is a threat with and without the ball.
Jake Beidleman – Junior – Defensive midfielder – an all-conference caliber defender who wins his 1v1 matchups.
James Hoenshilt – Senior defender and one of our best 1v1 players.
Michael Chimics – Senior Captain – a versatile defender that anchors our defensive unit.
Andrew Matulevicius – Sophomore goalie with all-conference potential.
Key newcomers:
Jeff Gerdes – A senior defender that came to us from out of state. He’s a good positional defender that compliments the existing strengths of our defensive unit. Blake Finnegan and Parker Kusko are Sophomore midfielders who will play key roles as the season goes on. We also have an internal competition brewing for our FaceOff position with sophomore Max Esteban showing some early promise coming out of the off-season.
Coach’s Outlook for 2023: “We’re excited about the season. There’s been a lot of change at Parkland in a short period of time with a new coaching staff entering in December, but the off-season gave us a chance to bond, introduce our leadership style and discuss the changes we’d like to make to the program. We have a group of player that enjoys playing the game and thrives on competition. If we can harness that energy and get everyone to work for, and support the person next to them, we will succeed. This is a Parkland team that is hungry for a championship, with guys that have never personally had the opportunity to raise a trophy.”
Saucon Valley High School
League: Independent
Head Coach: Joe Aquino, 1st Year, 0-0, Assistants Ege Zeybek, John Flok
2022 record: 4-14
Opener & opponent: Allentown Central Catholic 3/21/23
Key returners: Louis Tiboldo, Oliver Blachnio, Kyle Laub, Mitchell Davis, Reed Ernst, Nick Kehs, Steve Reeves
Newcomers: Joseph Peterson, Michael Magnotta, Ryan Keeney, Jacob Norwood
Coach’s outlook: “Although we have a lot of work to do the boys show up everyday ready to compete and work hard.”
