Editor’s Note: Lake Orion Lacrosse Coach Nik Banda shared his thoughts on the inaugural season with The Review…
Who would have predicted the inaugural season of the Lake Orion Dragon Lacrosse teams would end with a combined record of an astounding 18-7?
The varsity squad went 11-4 including winning the Williston Cup at the Waterford Invitational and the JV squad went 7-3. The two squads combined to score 209 goals.
The varsity squad was led by senior captains David Wurst, who had 61 total points including 52 goals and 9 assists, and Dylan VanFossen, who had 41 points on 27 goals and 14 assists.
Junior Johnny Costigan chipped in 14 goals and 9 assists, while junior Taylor Barstead (8 goals, 8 assists), sophomore Chris Rudnick (11 goals, 3 assists) and Senior Matt McAlpine (8 goals and 3 assists) did their part to bolster the offense.
The defense was led by senior captain Andrew Pugh (who also scored a goal) as well as senior Luke Goodman, and juniors Kevin Kelly and Zak Clouse.
The unbelievable play of junior goalie Spencer Murphy gave the Dragons a fighting chance in every one of the games. He ended the season with 168 saves.
Senior captain long stick middie Ben Nelson shored up the Dragons on the defensive end of the field.
Seniors Caleb Fallon and Matt Rogers led the offense taking the majority of the faceoffs with David Wurst, winning more than their share of this most important facet of the game.
The JV squad was led offensively by junior captain RJ Hamilton (12 goals and 1 assist), junior Andy Plets (10 goals and 2 assists), junior Phil LaMothe (5 goals and 7 assists), freshman Ben Kanda (8 goals) and junior Jimmy Averill (6 goals and 2 assists).
Junior Zaak Lossee won an astounding 89% of his faceoffs. The defense was anchored by junior captains James Cathcart and Mike Muldowney along with freshman Matt Kuehl.
The goaltending of senior Josh Grabenstein again kept the Dragons in the games, making a total of 71 saves.
Freshman long stick middie Matt Gattinger made a huge impression in the defensive end.
Stats aside, the most astounding part of the season’s success was that virtually none of these young men had ever played lacrosse competitively. They beat programs that had players who had been playing since middle school.
They played with respect for the game and a love of this sport that seems to now be gripping the student population that came out in droves to support this new sport.
The future looks equally bright. It will be tough to lose the offensive firepower of Wurst, VanFossen and McAlpine and defensive leadership of Pugh, Goodman and Nelson, but the underclassman proved time and time again they will be up for the challenge next year.
The team hopes to play a full OAA schedule next year and looks forward to competing in the State Championships. The boys truly appreciated the support of the school’s Athletic Department including AD Bill Reiss and especially Assistant AD Ben Gerdeman, who made it all possible.
We had great parental support to make it even easier on the coaching staff.
With the addition of Coaches Gerry Heckendorn, his son Jason, Brian McCarthy and Devon Banda to team founders, Head Coach Nik Banda and Assistant Steve Wurst, the players improved at an astounding pace.
Time and time again the coaches were told by opposing coaches, as well as the referees, that this was simply the best first year team they had ever seen.
It served as even more motivation for the Dragon Laxers who kept up their end of the bargain by winning time and time again.
It looks like lacrosse has found a home here in Lake Orion, and to prove the point Head Coach Nik Banda and his coaching staff will have the first ever Dragon Lacrosse Camp the last week in June at Dragon Stadium in the evenings, geared for two groups, 6th-8th graders and 9th-12th graders.
Any student in the Lake Orion School District will be eligible to attend the camp. They can contact Banda at (248)393-2621 for camp details of times and cost.
The ultimate goal of the program is to begin a middle school program to feed the high school team eventually.