By Zack Martino

If there is one thing that both the Warren Hills Regional High School boys and girls lacrosse teams have in common it is that they both have plenty of optimism heading into this year.

The Blue Streak boys team only lost two seniors from last season and have a new class of seniors taking their place. Among them is Nick Haffner, who was a faceoff monster last year. During faceoffs his junior season, Haffner had a solid winning percentage of 72, winning a total of 283 overall.

The boys are coached by Pat Kablis, who believes his team has standout and notable players everywhere else on the field as well.

“We should have a very productive offense, even though we are still very young,” Kablis said. “Our offense will be led by junior and three year starter Matt McShea, who is committed to play at Robert Morris. He had 39 goals and 14 assists as a sophomore, leading our team, and a total of 77 points in his freshman and sophomore year combined. We also have senior Kaden Piccione who has been a 3-year starter and had 28 goals and 9 assists last year.”

Kablis also has high praise for his defense.

“We should have a very strong defense with all three starters having started since their freshman year,” he said. “Ryan Janowski is the only senior defender and four year starter. We expect Ryan to lead our defense just like he has done the last few years. He is followed by our juniors, who are both 3-year starters. Hayden Van Solkema is a stud football player and lacrosse player and just a great all-around athlete. Jacob Korczukowski is already committed to play at Kean and will play a lot of wing on faceoffs for us this year.”

Finally, there is the senior-led midfield.  Jack Knowles, who is committed to play at Utica next year, and two sport senior athlete Nick Ortiz, lead the way. Kablis added, “One of our best midfielders is junior and three year starter Zach Hamilton. Zach is a phenomenal athlete starting both ways on the football team and also being our work horse on the lacrosse field. We also are excited to have Devin McLaughlin, Dominic Palazzolla, and Dylan Styiles running midfield and having a huge part in our success as a team this year.”

Like the boys, the girls team has many key players to keep an eye on according to head coach Megan Bublitz, who is expecting her team to build off of last year’s 3-14 record led by a core of returnees.

Seniors are going to be a big part of the team. The list includes midfielder Alyssa Guidi, Stephanie Veneziano at attack, midfielder/attack Mikayla Dugan, midfielder/attack Morgan Hamler, goalkeeper Maggie Titus, midfielder/attack Amanda Hicks, midfielder Ashleigh Laykin and Rosie Perna at defense.

The Blue Streaks will be rounded out by other key players junior attack Amanda Kilyk, sophomore midfield/attack Heather Laffan and a large incoming group of underclassmen, several of whom Bublitz feels can be impact players moving forward.