Captain's Corner

 

By Zach Smart

After exacting vengeance against Mamaroneck, which dethroned them in the 2012 Section I championship, Mahopac’s week starts today against always-intense cross-town rival in Carmel and culminates with upstart Arlington on Thursday.

Mahopac has had Carmel’s number in previous years, but the rivalry stemming from football and basketball always leaks out on the turf.

Anytime these two teams meet in any sport—Football, lacrosse, tennis, cross-country, water polo, equestrian, bowling, go fish, charades, there is always an uptick in intensity and animal spirit from both fan bases. Expect much of the same.

Don’t be surprised to see an uptick in physicality and maybe a few love taps and pushes or shoves. That is the nature of this epic rivalry. This is not freshman orientation, nobody is looking to make friends with anyone from the other side.

In the area of competitive sports, it’s safe to say the two squads HATE each other.
Hate eachother like liberals hate Rush Limbaugh. The two schools may not be a stone’s throw away from each other, but word travels from one community to the other pretty rapidly.

Arlington is a different beast this year. The Admirals have made various efforts to lift the program into a higher stratosphere.  

A larger-than-life size school with excellent facilities and all of the amenities, Arlington is eager to bridge the gap between Dutchess and Westchester lacrosse.

A riveting upset of Lakeland/Panas was a monumental mark for a program that’s striving to put its name in the conversation this season. Arlington is finally starting to harvest Division-I talent to match their Westchester County foes. Arlington features a pair of Albany-commits in goalkeeper JD Colarusso and go-to trigger man Dan Hanson. If Mahopac can apply the same knot-tight defensive coverage they did against Mamaroneck, when they altered the trajectory of countless shots throughout, putting the clamps on won’t be much worry.

The L/P upset wasn’t just a signature win it was the high-water mark of program history, according to head coach Don Connelly.

 

Nick Oliver

On the Northport loss

In the second quarter, we fell apart. Very quickly. It was a great game for us to learn from, to learn and absorb what we need to and what we need to clean up. Overall, it could have been a deflating loss but it was actually a really good learning experience.

On Carmel

They’re a relatively new program, so we kind of want to show that we are dominant in this area of lacrosse. Then again, we are not taking anyone lightly. We live to play this game and really want to make a statement. We want to prove that we are still the best in this rivalry game. We’re eager to prove that we’re a lacrosse school and we want to show that on the field.

Brendan Hynes

On the Mahopac/Carmel rivalry

From playing football and basketball, it’s evident that the energy is always high between the two teams. On the field, this is just like a championship for them. They definitely want to knock us off. So I’m sure they’re going to come out as fired up as we are. There’s a lot of energy and intensity, and we have to meet that.

On Learning From Other Captains

We learned from a lot of great captains in the past, but there aren’t any real traditions or superstitions we’ve taken from them. The most aspiring thing is just seeing how hard they’ve worked and how much they’ve bought in and got the team to buy in. As captains, it’s our job to be the hardest working people on the team.

Ross Thompson

On The Team’s Youth Movement

We’re definitely a lot younger this year, but overall I think we are a very tight-knit group. Teams in the past have been very close-knit and tight, but this year’s team really clicked from the very beginning. Our main thing is staying together. Senior leadership has been a big part of that.

Tyler Weisberg

On The Pre-Season

We had to practice on the tennis courts and parking lots because of issues with the field, but playing against nationally ranked teams really helped gear us up for the season. Getting that experience will always help us down the line. The bar is definitely raised high with this program and pre-season games against top-shelf programs comes with the territory.