Boys lacrosse: Scouting DuPage County and Fox area teams

The Naperville North boys lacrosse team is aiming high this season.

The Huskies are bringing back several talented players from last season’s 13-5 team. Senior captain Mattix Groves, a Cleveland State recruit, joins fellow senior captain Lucas Marshitz, a Maryville University commit, to lead the team. Senior captains Jack Houch, James Driscoll and Sean Delaney round out an experienced team.

“We’re excited for the season and have set some lofty goals as a program, team and individuals,” Naperville North coach Kevin Benages said. “Our motto is to ‘be the best at getting better’ and ‘be present where your feet are.’”

A few miles away, Naperville Central (8-10) is looking to ride a roster of several juniors to a new level for the program. All-conference selections Nick Zbylut and Owen O’Rear are both players to watch this spring, while Declan Burke, Brayden Tritt and Elias Bourgeois are potential breakout players.

“We got our first conference win last year in three years, and are excited to continue to get over the hump this year,” Naperville Central coach Blake Zinn said.

Wheaton Academy, which has an IHSA listed enrollment of 655 students, is aiming to be the top team in boys lacrosse this spring – again. The Warriors (23-1) won every single game against an Illinois opponent last season, losing only to IMG Academy, based in Florida, 17-14 late last March.

The Warriors, who placed third in 2022, won the program’s first state championship with a 17-9 win over St. Viator. This spring, the Warriors are seeking to defend their title despite losing 10 players from last season’s team. Still, Johnny Carrington, Mitch Carik and Charlie Foley are key returnees this spring.

“There’s a lot of talent that has been waiting to get on the field,” Wheaton Academy coach Geof Weisenborn said. “This year is their opportunity. Coming off of last year’s state championship, the expectations are high for this group. We have a difficult schedule ahead of us and how we handle and respond to adversity will determine how far we can go this year.”

York is another program coming off a solid season. The Dukes ended with a 14-6 record and finished second in the West Suburban last season. The Dukes bring back standouts Blake Reiger and Bennett Jones, along with team MVP, goalie Jack Kevin.

“We will be playing more younger players this year after having lost 10 contributing seniors to graduation,” York coach Thomas Coyne said. “We’re looking to improve all year and again challenge for the conference championship.”

Waubonsie Valley (5-15) returns several promising players, namely all-conference selection Jack Owen to go with Kale Bergante, Brock Culberson and Zach Hayes.

Downers Grove (7-10) lost to Neuqua Valley in the playoffs last season but has a roster full of motivated returnees. Dylan Spencer, Austin Williams and Keegan Cho join sophomores EJ Jeschke and Will Maher as players with upside.

The defense returns senior Erik Selby, an Elmhurst College recruit, and all-conference performer Nathan Peake.

Marmion Academy has a new coach with Jon Reid, an assistant last season, taking over the program. After finishing with a 9-6 record last season, Marmion is aiming higher due to the return of all-stater Brendan Thomas to go with Declan Anderson and talented scorer Anthony Massoth.

In total, the team has 24 upperclassmen with “lots of fire, motivation and passion” according to Reid.

St. Francis is looking for a turnaround season this spring, paced by standouts Will Alt and Dario Milivojevic.

“Coming off a disappointing showing last year, we have doubled our roster size and brought in a plethora of athletes who can be immediate impact players,” St. Francis coach Matt Caligiuri said. “This team is very green, but we’re hungry. We’re going to give teams a dogfight in all four quarters and there will be no easy games against this squad.”

Hinsdale Central (10-12) is relying on all-conference returnees Mason Brady, Bart Bouchelion and Daniel Backus to be the headliners. In addition, Rocco Salvi, Nate Merz, Finn Bergin, John Randell and Owen Joyce are key players.

“We return a talented defense and a team looking to take the next step forward and make some noise this spring,” Hinsdale Central coach Joseph Battaglia said.

Kaneland (1-10) is a team on the rise thanks to the return of Brandon Parrilli, Garret Wills, Vincent Kris, Easton Carriere, Grady Marler and Adam Leach. Freshman midfielder Jack Frein is slated to be a contributor.

“Our coaching staff feels very confident this season,” Kaneland coach Andre Carriere said. “We have a lot of new talent, but also a lot of returning talent to help teach the newcomers to the sport. We’re excited to get the season started with a great group of returning players and improve on last season’s record.”

Cary-Grove is coming off a solid season after finishing 13-4 and placing second in the Fox Valley Conference. The Trojans return key players in Ryan Soli (attack), Brendan Baumgart (midfielder) and Kyle Jarecki (LSM).

“This year we have a nice mix of returning players with varsity experience, as well as some new faces in key roles,” Cary-Grove coach Adam Valiga said. “It will be exciting to see this team come together and continue to work hard toward our goals this season.”

Crystal Lake South rode a strong senior class to an 11-8 finish last season. This year’s team is also very dominated by experienced players, including senior Kyle Dorn, junior Mike Seisser and sophomore Braedan Muraski will be asked to be versatile players on both ends of the field. Meanwhile, sophomore Drake Lenckus and junior Aidan Neyt anchor the attack group and organize the offense. Senior Timmy Popovits and sophomore Chase Griffith will set the tone for the defense.

Jacobs (2-16) is slated to have more experience to handle a tough Fox Valley Conference. The top returnees include William Von Eyser, Daniel Curran, Jack Pickens and Tucker Wall, while Austin Gottardo and Landon Carlson are two of the key newcomers.

“We’re returning a lot of varsity experience and combined with the hard work the players have been putting in, we’re excited to build on the positives of last season,” Jacobs coach John Bigler said. “Dealing with the growing pains of a young team last year will hopefully translate into more competitive results this year.”

Dundee-Crown is led by seniors Andrew Bober, Nathan Hale and Hayden Peterson and juniors Christopher Ronquillo and Noah Gotter.

“Last year our team was full of newcomers and first-year players that were learning the game,” Dundee-Crown coach Ryan Thompson said. “This year, we’re excited to be returning the majority of our varsity team as we look to establish ourselves as a competitive team on the field. We have also seen major growth in our program and look forward to developing our young talent at the JV level.”

Lake Park is entering into the mix this spring after fielding a club program for the past three seasons. Junior attacker Brennan Loftus is a player with experience on a team that mainly consists of freshmen and sophomores, according to coach Sanjay Merchant.

Glenbard North, a co-op with Glenbard East and Glenbard South, is starting the second year of the program. Sophomore Donato Gatses and freshman Angelo Gatses are among the players slated to make an impact.

“We’re looking forward to the challenge,” coach Vince Trombetta said. “We’re a young group. Our program only consists of two upperclassmen.

IC Catholic Prep (14-3) is entering year three of its rebuild, according to coach James Kenneally. The Knights might not have the numbers compared to other program – 45 total in the program – but they are led by a 12-senior group which is filled with experience. The leaders include goalie Frankie Spizzirri, Michael Karsten, Charlie Rucker, Ben Leischner, Frank Madda, Matthew Karsten, Kieran Barney, Danny Simkowski, Jonathan Petkus and Lucas Talluto.