Boys Lacrosse: End of Season Review

For Lakeland/Panas (18-4) the season couldn't have gone any better. The Rebels defeated Yorktown 8-7 in overtime in the Class A championship game, beat the Huskers twice in a season for the first time ever, and made it to the State Final Four for the first time since 1997.

"Like coach [Jim Lindsay] said, he was on the team the last time we made to the state final four and that was 13 years ago," said Robert Caffrey, Rebel junior attackman. "It feels great. We accomplished our goal. We won sectionals against our rival Yorktown. We just wanted to see how far we could go and we had a great run this year."

One reason the Rebels made it that far was because of the play of three players who were named All-American this spring- senior defenseman Andy Fazio, senior midfielder Shawn Honovich (42 goals, 17 assists) and junior midfielder Conor Prunty (45 goals, 37 assists).

"I think getting to the final four was big for the program," Honovich said. "We have been building for the last couple of years and it's great to get to this point."

Caffrey (66 goals, 31 assists), senior attackman Will Fallo (30 goals, 29 assists) and sophomore midfielder Chris Monteferante (28 goals, 20 assists) were named all-section with senior goalie Robert Belger (183 saves) earning all-section honorable mention honors.

The Rebels' coaching staff also earned deserving awards with Jim Lindsay being named Section 1 Coach of the Year. Assistant coach Matt Garcia earned the Section 1 Assistant Coach of the Year award.

 Lindsay appreciated the efforts of all his players, and especially the seniors.

"I am going to miss their leadership, I am going to miss their faces, miss their personalities but let them go," he said. "They are going to have bright futures ahead, every one of them. They really have a special place in this program's history, in my heart and in Matt's heart."

Yorktown's season (11-8) may have not finished in its customary place as for only the third time in the last 31 years the Huskers didn't come away as Section 1 champions.

However, coach Dave Marr is smart enough to realize his team ended the season with a valiant effort in the loss to the Rebels.

"I was very proud of my team," Marr said. "We were down by two goals in the fourth quarter. It has happened to us all year we get that one fluke goal in the fourth quarter and all of a sudden, in the past we put our heads down and stop playing but we fired back up, got it tied and in overtime. We played a great team. You just have to tip your hat to them."

The Yorktown team has great players to be proud of. One of them was senior attackman Kevin Interlicchio (44 goals, 10 assists), who for the second year in a row was named All-American. He finished his standout career for the Huskers as the school's all-time leader in goals scored, 181.

Interlicchio will continue playing lacrosse next year at Johns Hopkins University.

Senior defenseman Stephen Burke, junior midfielder Ty Schuldt (25 goals, 9 assists), senior attackman Remy Lieberman (23 goals, 11 assists) and junior midfielder Justin Mabus (13 goals, 13 assists) were named all-section with seniors. Seniors, defenseman Joey Bonitatibus and goalie Derek Koelsch (136 saves) earned all-section honorable mention.

Koelsch and Lieberman also earned the Scholar Athlete Award.

Mabus, who is already being recruited by many Division I schools, and Schuldt showed how lethal they were in the title game against the Rebels. At the game, Mabus had two goals and three assists with Schuldt who scored three goals. That type of performance in a championship tilt bodes well for next season.

Also playing an important role in next year's squad will be attackman Nick Mariano, who registered 20 goals and 10 assists as a freshman.