Sleepy Hollow Spring Sports: Lacrosse

As Sleepy Hollow prepares for its boys lacrosse campaign they are focusing on one unknown – they will see competition never before encountered in the past.

"In lacrosse, we used to base the schedule more on skill level, you try to match teams that were comparable to you," Sleepy Hollow coach Gary DiVico said. "This year they threw that all out."

Sleepy Hollow will be playing Double A schools like Mamaroneck, Scarsdale and New Rochelle in addition to Class B schools like Irvington and Hastings.

"It's geographical now... We play who we have to play," DiVico said. "We can't change it. That's the best way to approach it."

DiVico has been the coach at Sleepy Hollow since 1992 and been involved in the boys lacrosse program at Sleepy Hollow since '79, which includes time as the JV coach and varsity assistant. He said his goals for the team this year are to compete for the league title and make sectionals.

Sleepy Hollow is young this year with just four seniors on it but it does bring a great work ethic to the field.

"We have a good group of kids that likes lacrosse who want to get better and that's all I can ask," DiVico said. "They work hard and listen. We have a small team this year, we only have 19 guys. So everybody has to be ready to go, they are all going to get a lot of time this year."

Two of those players that will be on the attack are senior John Bucci, a third-year starter, and junior Dennis Maloy, who brings a blue-collar attitude to the field.

The youth of the team shows in the midfield with sophomore Kyle McGovern, senior Justin Rosero, junior John Michael Bogusz and junior Jorge Berenguer. This group has worked hard in the off-season to improve its game, DiVico said.

Moving to defense after playing midfield a year ago is senior Joe Scarpati, who will be using a long stick for the first time.

"We lost a lot of our defense last year," DiVico said. "Joe has also played basketball and soccer so he is a very good athlete. I think playing defense will be a good fit for him."

Another senior making the switch from midfield to defense is senior Peter DelMonaco.

"Another good athlete we moved from midfield," DiVico said of DelMonaco. "He is the same lines as Joey, good athlete, plays three sports (football and wrestling)."

In goal will be junior Jay Ramirez, a first year varsity player who has some big shoes to fill according to DiVico in replacing graduated goalie Vinny Mazzecone, who helped Sleepy Hollow secure a 9-7 record last year. Backing Ramirez up will be sophomore Tyler O'Donnell.

Jon Villanueva is the assistant coach.

"Jon is great," DiVico said. "He teaches in the school, which I don't so he is my eyes and ears. He lets me know how my kids are doing in school. He's our offensive coordinator. He's been with me six, seven years now."

Concentrating on defense will be volunteer assistant Dave Campbell, a former Sleepy Hollow player, who played as a long-stick middie at Adelphi before graduating last year.

Besides Campbell, other former Headless Horsemen come back and assist as well.

"The great thing is these kids I coach are all coming back," DiVico said. "They just love lacrosse, it makes me feel good. They want to help out and they do, when they can."