Pelham Daily Sports Digest: Pelham Boys Lacrosse Preview

The Top Spot:

Co-Head Coaches Mike Solazzo and Steve Magarelli led the Pelicans to a 12-7 season last year and with a more experienced team this season Pelham lacrosse is looking for a big year.

Patch recently spoke to Coach Solazzo about the upcoming season.

Pelham Patch: As far as age and, more importantly experience goes, what type of team do you expect to have this season?
Coach Mike Solazzo: We bring back a much more experienced team this year. We have an athletic team that likes to get up and down the field. The corner stone of our success will be placed on our seniors’ shoulders. Not only do they have the ability to be good players but they have really set the tone for the rest of the guys in the off-season and during practice. 

Pelham Patch: What were some of the weaknesses your team had last year that you hope to improve upon this season?
Coach Solazzo: Offensively we were very inexperienced and young last year, and at times that inexperience showed. This year we have an offense that has a few veteran players that are really helping set the tone and the poise we need to put up some points. 

Pelham Patch: Who are some of your returning players coming back who you see being big contributors?
Coach Solazzo: First and foremost is Matt Landis (attending Notre Dame next year) our Long Stick Midfielder. Matt is athletic enough to shut down the opposing teams number one guy and can create transition offense for us. Also, on defense we bring back Colin Riely. Colin is a tough hard nosed kid who sets the tone for our closed defense. On offense we have Garrett Martin, who will be the quarterback of our offense. Garrett has really embraced this role and really took his game to the next level leading into this season. At the midfield we have Brian Buckley and Graham Lambdin. Two seniors who the team can rely on the put the ball in the back of the net in big situations and also get back and play solid defense for us. 

Pelham Patch: Who are some of your new players you are expecting to thrust into a larger role on the team?
Coach Solazzo: Junior Zac Mermelstien will be running first line middie for us for the second year in a row. He worked incredibly hard in the offseason to improve his game. He comes into the season much stronger and faster then last year with that hard work. Junior Jake Delgais will be playing closed defense for us and is a great takeaway guy. Jake has tremendous stick skills which allows him to create transition for us. Also, Sophomore Andrew Dzenis, a two way midfielder that we can use in multiple ways this year. He is a do it all midfielder. 

Pelham Patch: How has the team been preparing in the off-season?
Coach Solazzo: Since November we have been doing morning secessions from 6-7:45 every Tuesday and Thursday morning. We also have been in the weight room every day after school working on our strength and agility. We also competed in a Winter League every Sunday night. We also went up to the Yale Fall Ball tournament and competed with some great teams this past fall. 

Pelham Patch: What are your goals for the season as a team?
Coach Solazzo: To win our first ever Section One Title

Pelham Patch: Are there one or two games circled on the schedule this season?
Coach Solazzo: To be honest NO. We really want to win every game this year. We have a competitive schedule this year and every game counts. Every game we need to get better if we are going to reach our goal and to continue to build our program.

Pelham Patch: What are you personally looking forward to this season?
Coach Solazzo: Winning the Section!

Yesterday the Pelicans won their opening game of the season as they beat Ossining 7-5.

Brian Buckley let the way with two goals as Matt Landis scored once and assisted on two more. Zach Mermelstien, Luck Szendiuch, Garret Martin and Max Sorice each scored once in the win.

Pelham will look to make it two in a row as the face off against Mamaroneck on Monday at 4:30 p.m.

College Sports Notebook:

Cousins Makes Pick Sooner Rather then Later

Section 1’s Mr. Basketball, Isaiah Cousins of Mount Vernon made his decision and next year he will be joining Lon Kruger and the Oklahoma Sooners.

Cousins was also looking at big name programs like Connecticut, Xavier and Virginia Tech as well as smaller schools like Rhode Island and Dayton.

The Mount Vernon shooting guard is the fifth incoming freshman to sign on to play for Oklahoma next year.

Spartans, Salerno on a torrid streak

Frank Salerno of New City had four hits and Nick Barbalato of Mahopac added three to lead the St. Thomas Aquinas College baseball team to a 13-6 victory over the University of Bridgeport in an East Coast Conference contest at Harbor Yard in Connecticut.

The Spartans have won five straight to improve to 16-8 overall, 4-0 in the ECC, while Bridgeport fell to 3-7, 0-2.

STAC was well-represented in an East Regional poll this week, as it moved up to the No. 4 slot in the d2baseballnews.com rankings.

Matt Marotta of Suffern had an RBI in the first inning as the Spartans struck early, and Mike Russo of Boca Raton, FL, had an RBI double, driving in Barbalato.

The Spartans drove Bridgeport starter Nick Vautrin out of the box in the second inning, after Salerno doubled to bring home Derek Hirsch of Roslyn. But reliever Garret Rogers walked catcher George Wargo of West Haverstraw to force in a run, and Marotta added a sacrifice fly to open a 5-0 lead.

Bridgeport pushed across a run in the third inning on starter Nick May of Middletown, but the freshman left-hander avoided further trouble, and worked out of a one-out, bases-loaded jam in the fourth.

STAC put the game away in the eighth inning as Salerno’s fourth hit of the day keyed a three-run rally.

Senior right-hander Ken Frawley of White Plains got the win in relief, improving to 3-1.

Salerno went 4 for 5 with three runs scored while Barbalato went 3 for 5.

The Spartans return to action when the University of Bridgeport visits Provident Bank Park in Pomona on Friday at 3 p.m. STAC then travels for a big twin-bill at Molloy on Saturday before returning to PBP to complete the weekend set with Molloy on Sunday.

Mortarboard musings

• The struggling Manhattan College softball team (1-18) can only hope for better when it opens Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference (MAAC) play on Saturday with a doubleheader at Rider (7-15-1). First pitch is set for 1 p.m. at Herb and Joan Young Field in Lawrenceville, NJ. Amanda Babcock of Haverstraw is second on the Jaspers in hitting with a .239 BA, behind Kate Bowen of Newton, CT, who is rolling along at a .357 clip.
• The St. Thomas Aquinas College softball team, coming off a doubleheader loss at Queens College, hopes to bounce back today with a doubleheader at home against Molloy at 3:30 p.m. Sharis Ruiz of Greenwood Lake went 2-for-3 in the second game against Queens after the Lady Spartans were held to two hits in the opener. Maura Power of Pearl River had an RBI in the second game, which Queens pulled out with two unearned runs in the sixth inning.
• The Pace University baseball team has changed its lineup, as Wednesday’s game at New Haven was rescheduled for today at 3:30 p.m., which then forced postponement of a scheduled game against Dominican College. Chris Roemer of Ardsley leads the Setters in hitting with a .390 batting average, while Charlie Galasso of West Harrison is batting .304. Pitcher Eddie Byrne of Yonkers, a Stepinac graduate, is 2-1 on the hill. The Chargers, based in Orangeburg, visit Concordia College in Bronxville today at 3 p.m., visit Felician (NJ) College on Friday at 7 p.m., and then play at Queens on Saturday at noon. Junior Andrew Camardella of Pelham leads Dominican in hitting with a .356 batting average, and his 14 RBI ties him for the team lead. Peter Martinez of White Plains is second in batting at .300.

Weekly Sports Poll:

With March in it’s final week this week’s sports poll deals with the NCAA Men’s Basketball Final Four in New Orleans. Kentucky and Louisville will play the early game on Saturday night quickly followed by Ohio State and Kansas. Now the only question left in the NCAA Basketball season, is

The Daily Sports Digest is Patch’s way of increasing reader involvement in sports coverage. We would like to provide you with for you to add your best photos and/or videos to share. If you see anything in our high school scores, standings or schedule that requires updating, please e-mail Mark Rinaldi directly at HVDailySportsDigest@gmail.com or like us on Facebook and post updates on our wall. Marc Maturo covers college athletics across the nation. Please send updates of your local schools or players to marcmaturo@aol.com.