By Chris Goldberg
Phillylacrosse.com, Posted 8/22/23
The field is covered with this year’s choices for the Phillylacrosse Boys’ Players of the Year.
On the offensive side, Haverford School senior Ryan DiRocco is the ideal X attackman. He is joined by Academy of the New Church junior attackman Hunter Aquino. If you wanted to try to shut them down, you’d start with Germantown Academy senior LSM Walker Schwartz and hope to have Radnor senior short-stick midfielder Cooper Mueller.
DiRocco was the Inter-Ac League MVP for a squad that went undefeated in league play. Aquino helped his team defeat several nationally-ranked teams and roll to a Friends Schools league title. Mueller helped Radnor win a third consecutive PIAA Class 3A championship. Schwartz was considered the top defender in the Inter-Ac.
Bios are below.
Hunter Aquino, Junior Attackman, Academy of the New Church
It didn’t take long for Hunter Aquino to make a name for himself in 2023.
In Academy of the New Church’s opener, the Lions defeated the top team in the nation in 2022, St. John’s College (D.C.), 10-9 in overtime, and Aquino was the standout with three goals and the game-winner.
The highlights continued and the Penn State commit established himself as one of the most dangerous attackman in the state and beyond. Overall, Aquino tallied 70 goals and 54 assists for a 15-5 squad that claimed its ninth straight Friends Schools League title and was ranked among the top 25 teams in the nation much of the year.
The 6-foot-5 inch Aquino was a threat from nearly every spot on attack, as a dodger, at X and in transition where his 6-5 frame and agility made him so difficult to defend.
“He’s so versatile, there’s not anything he can’t do,” said ANC coach Jack Forster. “He’s so hard to cover because he’s 6-5, long and rangy. But he can move and change directions.
“He can shoot so well with both hands. Our guys do a great job of getting him the ball in good spots, and he’s better at dodging off of ball movement. He’s good at running off picks and our guys are good at playing the two-man game with him.”
Aquino was proud that his Lions cracked the nations’ elite in 2023. Many are aware that the school had only several hundred students and ANC typically has 20 or less players on its roster.
“At the beginning of the year, Coach Jack always writes down goals, and definitely one was being ranked,” said Aquino. “We had a good good record, beating some of the higher ranked teams like St. John’s and St. Paul’s (MD). We reached most of our goals, but we fell to Malvern Prep, Radnor and La Salle.
“But this was the year we put ANC on the map. Hopefully we can get those guys next year.”
Aquino’s best game was arguably against Malvern Prep on April 22 in the 11-7 loss. Despite having limited us of his left wrist due to an injury, he scored five goals in a contest played at his future home, Penn State’s Panzer Stadium. The game was specially scheduled because both Forster and Malvern coach Matt Mackrides had played on the same attack line at Penn State a decade earlier.
“I wasn’t expecting to have a big game because I was a little nervous, I didn’t know how my wrist would do all taped up,” Aquino said. “I had a brace and it was all tucked under the glove. I couldn’t move the way I normally do. I mainly tried to go right and they kept forcing me to my left. It was sick, especially playing on that field.
“It was a great game. To be honest, I was crying a little only because it meant a lot to the coaches and my family. We have a lot of alumni in my family; my grandparents, my mom and my sister all graduated from there. Even though it was rainy, everyone showed up.”
Aquino played with the bad wrist for the final weeks of the season and finally threw away the tape when ANC downed IMG Academy in the National Prep Championship quarterfinals in late May
“The seniors put their trust in me to put the offense together,” he said. “Coach told me he wanted me to make mistakes and not to worry about that. That helped me a lot. I usually had a good pole on me, but our guys made good screen and I’d get a short stick. That’s when I went to work, dodging from behind or off screens.”
Said Forster: “You trust him. You want him to have the ball, especially in big games and in tight games. I think we’re pretty good living with him having the ball.”
Walker Schwartz, Senior LSM, Germantown Academy
Germantown Academy coach Billy McKinney said Walker Schwartz didn’t really have a position – he played everywhere and did everything.
“Walker didn’t have a role – he had every role other than playing goalie,” said McKinney. “He was on face-off wings, covered the opponent’s best player, carried the ball downfield in transition, stayed on and played offense at times, and was on man up.”
Indeed, Schwartz was the jack-of-all-trades for GA, which competed well in the rugged Inter-Ac League, but struggled through a 1-9 league campaign and 4-13 overall. But Schwartz’s all-around talents were obvious.
“He had 26 goals and 13 assists his senior season,” said McKinney who noted he had countless groundballs and clears. “He is one of the rare defensemen that consistently covers the opposition’s best player and outscores them.”
Schwartz, a USA Lacrosse All-American headed to Cornell, embraced his many responsibilities.
“It took a lot of energy out of me to play offense, run transition and get back on defense,” he said. “But I managed. Playing close defense was probably the most tiring thing. II liked going on offense and if the matchup was good I’d stay up on offense.
“I just feel like my main role was helping get a big-time play, like a groundball or a transition to change the flow of the game. That’s where I tried to contribute the most, by changing momentum.”
Of course, winning games was most important to Schwartz. He admits it was tough to struggle for victories – although he points out that so many contests vs. Inter-Ac teams were tight – and he was prod when the Patriots defeated Springside Chestnut Hill Academy, 13-10, in the second meeting and then gave eventual Inter-Ac Tournament champion Malvern Prep fits in an 8-6 loss.
McKinney said that Schwartz, also a standout ice hockey player, used his athleticism to excel on the lacrosse field.
“He is an intense competitor that is seemingly incapable of giving anything but his best when he is on the field, and one of the most selfless and humble individuals off the field,” McKinney said. “He is the best high school player I have ever seen at licking up ground balls in a crowd.
“That is where you really see the influence of his hockey background. Our opponents would put their best defensive player on him when he stayed on the field in the offensive zone.”
Cooper Mueller, Senior Short-Stick Midfielder, Radnor
Radnor coach John Begier liked to say Cooper Mueller was so talented that he served the role of a long-stick midfielder with a short stick – a great defender with unique transition skills, among other abilities. Once the Raptors got the ball, it typically went to Mueller to clear, often by himself and with few defenders, who learned quickly that trying to ride him proved fruitless.
“Cooper impacted the game all over the field,” said Begier. “His speed and athletic ability allowed him to be an unstoppable 1-man clear. And with that not only were we clearing the ball at a very high percentage, but we were also able to generate opportunistic unsettled situations and quality looks in our early offense.
“Defensively he was like having another defenseman on the field in his ability to guard and take some of the other teams’ top offensive players out of the game. Ultimately through his career at Radnor he became one of the most talented and productive 2-way midfielders in the country.”
Mueller’s contributions helped Radnor finish 23-3 and win its third straight PIAA Class 3A championship, closing with an 8-1 triumph over Springfield-Delco in the finale at Penn State’s Panzer Stadium. With Mueller playing a key role defensively, Radnor allowed fewer than five goals in 17 games and yielded just nine goals in its four PIAA triumphs.
“I loved my role, Coach Begier gave me a long leash,” said Mueller, who will play at Princeton University. “This year we had a lot of really good athletes. I think everyone that started on defense was a multi-sport athlete and with that athleticism no one could beat us one-on-one. We were able to double and cause turnovers.”
Mueller also was a dangerous offensive player and a key member of the faceoff wing crew. At 6-4, Mueller used his size, speed and strength to create havoc in so many ways. Mueller also was a great leader, Begier said.
“We were at our best as a team when we were playing fast and opportunistically and he was a big factor in making that happen,” said Begier. “More than anything his greatest attributes are his attitude and competitive fire. He led by example in how hard he practiced and played every day. His interest was never in individual honors – it was about doing whatever it took for Radnor to be the best and being a great teammate.”
Mueller said the Raptors had to re-establish themselves this year after the first two state titles. They lost two early-season games, but defeated Malvern Prep and Academy of the New Church and later bounced back from a disappointing 10-8 loss to rival Springfield in the District 1 final.
“We started off a little rocky and then midseason we started playing well,” he said “We had a couple injuries and we lost in the district finals, but once we hit states we were firing. La Salle (a 7-4 semifinal win) was a big test and we were really confident coming into the state final.”
Ryan DiRocco, Senior Attackman, Haverford School
Haverford School coach Brendan Dawson called Ryan DiRocco the quarterback of the team in 2023.
“Ryan was our leader in every sense of the word,” he said. “On the field he was a completely balanced scorer and facilitator, our leader by example and in play. That’s probably the best compliment I can give him, and the one that would mean the most to him is that he made his teammates better on a daily basis.”
In 2023, DiRocco led the Fords in scoring with 46 goals and 43 assists as the X attackman on a squad that went 17-3 and was the undefeated Inter-Ac League champion, and ranked among the top 20 teams in the country nearly the entire season. He was named Inter-Ac MVP and was a USA Lacrosse All-American.
On a squad with many standout players, DiRocco was the glue to the attack.
“He’s a great facilitator, but can score as easily as he can set up his teammates,” Dawson said. “He’s poised, can dodge/carry and manage the game. He is just someone you trust with the ball in his stick to make the right play at the right time.”
DiRocco, who is playing at West Point, said the Fords’ success was due to a close-knit, talented group.
“The team had a lot of positive encouragement from our leaders, it made our chemistry better and we played for each other all season,” DiRocco said. “I’m so proud of our team for our levelheadedness all year no matter how well we played we always knew we had work to do and we wanted to get better every day.
“The outcomes are just a product of our work ethic over the course of the whole season.”
How did he see his role? “I was mainly the offense’s QB at X and point and my job was made easier by everyone else doing their jobs and doing them well. These guys are my best friends. I could not ask for a better group to accomplish everything we did with.”