Stonington Boys Lacrosse A Perfect 10

Paul Deon wanted to bring some Long Island and East Lyme mentality to the Stonington High boys' lacrosse team when he was hired as coach two years ago.

Deon played scholastically in Long Island, perhaps the country's strongest lacrosse territory in terms of talent and popularity. He served as an assistant coach at East Lyme, which won every Eastern Connecticut Conference title during his tenure there.

Aside from changing the Bears' offensive and defensive philosophy and intensity, his biggest challenge was to transform Stonington's perspective.

"I told the kids last year that we could go far in the Class S states," Deon said. "They looked at me like I was crazy. It was important to raise the kids' confidence level."

The players' skepticism was understandable. Stonington, despite fielding a winning program historically, had never won a state tournament game before Deon took over.

 Last year, after a 13-5 regular season record and ECC Small second-place finish to undefeated ECC champ Ledyard, Stonington topped Valley Regional and Ellington to reach the Class S semis - the same round as Ledyard made.

"We had some All-State level seniors such as Jeff Pearce and Alex Kezer to go with young talent," Deon said. "Our biggest accomplishment was to believe and trust a new system. I brought in a new offense, new defense, new ideas. I saw talent, but for whatever reason they hadn't gone far."

Deon's systems earned a following with a school-record 15 wins and first two dstate tourney wins. And it's all system's go in Deon's second season this year. The Bears have followed up their historic year, winning their first 10 games in 2011 by a combined score of 149-32.

Stonington (10-0) can test its wares in back-to-back games against still strong Ledyard, 3:30 today at home and 5:30 Tuesday at Ledyard. An April rainout caused these consecutive games, creating an NBA Playoff-like setting. Most lacrosse coaches don't favor playing a team twice, let alone back-to-back.

"We can't control the schedule," Deon said after SHS blanked Wheeler, 16-0, Thursday. "Now that Ledyard is next up, we can start thinking about them. They are still  a strong team, so it will be exciting to see how we measure up."

Stonington measures up with a record-setting offense, paced by junior attacker Luke Lucovich. After scoring 21 goals as a sophomore, Lucovich had 33 after 10 games, including a school-record tying eight against Old Lyme. Sophomore attacker very Dodd (27 goals, 27 assists) and Dan Riordan (12 goals) compliment Lucovich's creativity.

"Luke is doing a great job finishing," Deon said. "But if the middies and defenders are not stopping the opposing attack and moving the ball down the field, he can't get possession. It takes a team."

The Bears feature layers of offensive attacking with Ross Aiello, Oscar Nordness ( 11 goals each), Chuck Fayal (10 goals) John Stonely, Will Romeo, Thomas Riordan (15 goals, 12 assists) and Eddie Moran provide plenty of depth for midfield lines.

 Longstick middies Spencer Dodd, Chase Springborn and Ben Mazzarese, and defenders Kyle Mola, Jacob Steinhoff offer ample protection for junior goalkeeper Mike Brandon.Brandon arose against Stonington's toughest opponent in a 16-7 win over NFA, which was coming off a victory over East Lyme. Brandon turned in 19 saves, a high total in lacrosse.

Stonington has answered all challenges, with an 8-3 win over Waterford showing the only tight result.

"We've been challenged, although we haven't had a tight game in the fourth quarter yet," Deon said. "We've risen to the challenge. The Ledyard games should tell us more about ourselves. We have to come to play it's going to be a challnege."

Ledyard comes into today's game with two losses, a one-goal defeat at Guilford and a 15-2 blowout at the hands of East Lyme.  NFA topped East Lyme only a week before the Wildcats lost to Stonington.

"I can't ask for more from our start to the season," Deon said. "The team is believing in itself. I want to coach the right way and I want them to play the game the right way. Not that they didn't before here, but this that is what all successful lacrosse programs do."