Experienced Lions have higher goals

There's been a big difference in practice for the Gahanna Lincoln High School boys lacrosse team.

With 23 returning players among a roster that has expanded from 28 to 50, the Lions haven't focused solely on drills. Instead, there have been plenty of opportunities to work on game situations.

"When they want to play lacrosse, we play lacrosse," coach Brett Dillon said. "We've been able to go from doing drills to talking more about game theory. Having all of these back with varsity experience helps them because they've been there and they know what the coaches want."

Gahanna, which had a game against Bexley originally scheduled for Wednesday changed to April 24, will open March 27 against visiting Wilmington.

After having a roster comprised only of Gahanna students two years ago when it still competed in the Club Division, the Lions more than doubled their win total a season ago. Gahanna finished 9-10 overall after losing to DeSales 13-3 in the first round of the Division II tournament.

The Lions went 0-6 for the second consecutive season in the OCC-Ohio Division as Olentangy won the title at 6-0. Gahanna will be joined in the league this season by Westerville Central, Westerville North and Westerville South, New Albany, Olentangy, Olentangy Liberty and Olentangy Orange.

"Last year our goals were pretty simple," Dillon said. "We wanted to average six to nine goals offensively (and ended up averaging 9.2), and my personal goal was that I wanted us to go .500, and we went 9-10. This year our goal is to dominate offensively. Now we've begun to develop our defensive prowess and we've put in a couple new twists. The kids are a lot smarter."

The Lions return four of their top six scorers, several of their top midfielders and their backup goalkeeper.

Junior Nate Hays was the second-leading scorer with 27 goals and 35 assists and is back to lead the attack. He is joined there by junior Cooper Sevell (20 goals), senior Michael Vourvopoulis and freshmen twins Andrew and Thomas Fuss.

Juniors Anders Nilsen and John Mercurio (13 goals, 15 assists) will be joined on the midfield by juniors Conner Smallwood (13 goals, 3 assists) and Brad Tarbutton.

Senior long-stick midfielder Steve Resch made first-team all-OCC-Ohio and first-team all-region. He is the first player from the program to commit to playing collegiately after agreeing to go to Otterbein over the winter.

Junior Kyle Wetherill is another who should see action at long-stick midfielder.

On defense, juniors Ben Schembri and Chris Kuhar are returning starters. Junior Dan Finkel and freshman Tyler Grassman also should be regulars.

Junior Adam LaChappelle is taking over in goal after finishing with 17 saves and nine goals allowed last year. Junior Nick Smith is the backup.

LaChappelle replaces Bobby Lane, a 2008 graduate who finished with 174 saves and a .540 save percentage.

Others lost to graduation included attacker Kyle Tarbutton, who scored a team-best 57 goals and had 13 assists, and midfielder Jon Storms, who made first-team all-Region and second-team all-OCC.

"Things have been going awesome," Brad Tarbutton said. "We have a huge junior class and a lot of the kids know what we're doing now. We should be strong offensively and defensively. We expect to have a much better season than last year and hopefully post a winning record."

At a glance

•Coach: Brett Dillon, third season

•Opener: March 27 vs. Wilmington

•Key players: Nate Hays, Chris Kuhar, Adam LaChappelle, John Mercurio, Anders Nilsen, Steve Resch and Ben Schembri