Chaminade Lacrosse Begins Trek to 2012 Finals

Jack Moran has no illusions about where the Chaminade varsity lacrosse squad stands right now and where it is headed.

“We’re probably at 60 percent,” the veteran coach said last week following a scrimmage against Farmingdale. “I really think that we’re doing some things really well. There’s 40 percent of our game that needs improvement.”

Moran was more concerned about getting his squad ready for a match against Massapequa Wednesday afternoon after getting through a 4-way scrimmage against Syosset, Don Bosco and Sayville this past weekend, all part of the pre-season regimen the Flyers take to gear up for their league matches.

“Holy Trinity, Kellenberg and St. John’s all have gotten better and they’re the double-A teams,” he said. “I would figure that St. Anthony’s and Chaminade are going to be in the Triple-A finals. There’s no locks on anything but the way our formats are set up, us and Anthony’s can only be in the Triple-A finals. So it’s either that or nothing.”

Moran can say that without a hint of braggadocio, because – save one matchup – that’s the way it has always been for the past 20 years. Flyers vs. Friars from beginning to end.

“For 4 years in a row, we played better than them in the last game of the year and for the last three years they’ve ,” Moran said, referring to the 2005-08 run the Flyers had followed by St. Anthony’s current reign. “The deal is to get your kids to the final and then once they get there you’ve got to try to make sure they’re mentally and physically ready to go.”

In 2011 the Flyers were far more attack-oriented with midfielder Sean Mahon and attackers Shane Thornton, Walter Rooney and Matthew Kavanagh.

“We lost 50 goals there,” Moran said of the . “I think we’ll be a little deeper at midfield so early in the year that’s where we have our most experience, we’ll probably attack from the midfield earlier.”

With their loss, junior Ryan Lukacovic will be asked to step up and lead the Flyer offense this season.

“He’s going to be getting it to Paul Urbank and (Gregory) Rhodes and (Matthew) Graham,” Moran said, all of whom ran the second midfield for Chaminade last year. Also factoring into the offense is Joseph Reilly, lefty attacker Thomas Zenker and a healthy senior Brendan Caputo.

“He’s a big part of what we do,” Moran said. “We have good individual talent, I think we have good chemistry; they like each other, they work hard for each other but its still a matter of playing together a little bit.”