Marysville High School boys lacrosse coach Art Baschnagel likes the direction in which his club program is heading.

In their third season, the Monarchs finished 5-9 and won their first postseason game, defeating Licking County Legend Lacrosse 10-3 on May 17 in a play-in game of the 23-team OHSLA Club Division tournament before losing to Avon Lake 12-7 in the first round May 19.

Marysville also beat Legend Lacrosse 8-0 in a regular-season game April 14. Its other wins came against Wilmington (11-5 on March 24) and Columbus City Schools (11-2 on April 20 and 12-1 on May 8).

"I love the progress," Baschnagel said. "We have more and more kids coming up underneath, which overall makes us stronger. This was our strongest season yet. We had multiple wins and controlled a lot of games."

The Monarchs lose eight seniors in attackers Anthony Falzarano and Lam Tse, midfielders Grant Barnhorst, Zach Hamilton and Jared Spyker and defenders Dakota Romine, Ben Stanseski and Justis Williams.

Romine was named second-team all-region.

Falzarano was second on the team in scoring with 20 goals and 15 assists, and Tse had 14 goals and eight assists.

Among the key players expected to return are junior attacker Adam Capuano and junior goalkeeper Alec Todd.

Capuano led the team in scoring with 49 goals and 38 assists and was first-team all-region and second-team all-state. Todd had 298 saves.

Others expected to return are juniors Daniel Barr (midfielder), Joey Cunningham (midfielder), Alec Marshall (defender) and Nate Perry (midfielder), sophomores Andrew Benjamin (midfielder), Jacob Burge (midfielder), Aaron Carpenter (midfielder), Casey Little (midfielder), Steve Milroy (midfielder), Chance Nelson (midfielder) and Christopher Phillips (midfielder) and freshman Justin Reynolds (goalie).

After playing all of its home games at the Union County Airport the first two seasons, Marysville played some games at the high school this season. Baschnagel hopes to continue to build a strong relationship with the high school.

"(Athletics director) Joe Bline has been very gracious about helping us get field space for the boys and the girls programs," Baschnagel said.

Girls team shows 'monumental progress'

After finishing 0-10 in its inaugural season in 2011, the girls team finished 6-10 this spring.

The Thunder posted its first victory against Delaware, winning 9-6 on March 31.

Marysville won its first postseason game, defeating Avon Lake 16-8 in a play-in game of the OSLA North/Central Region Club Division tournament May 12 before losing to Brecksville-Broadview Heights 21-7 in the first round May 19.

"The tournament was a different atmosphere and we actually got to play our first tournament game on our home field," coach Amanda Warner said. "The girls were really excited to play and they were proud to show what they have made of themselves over the past year and a half."

Marysville's other wins came against Big Walnut (21-11 on April 17 and 17-14 on May 8), Westerville North (15-12 on May 1) and Westerville Central (13-11 on May 3).

"We had monumental progress from year one to year two," Warner said. "The improvement couldn't have been better. The kids weren't intimidated by the sport and they definitely have the stick skills coming in from year one. They're familiar with each other. All of that played a part."

The Thunder loses two seniors in Lydia Browne (attacker) and Ashley Weiss (defender).

"The seniors contributed to the team in more ways than one," Warner said. "They were good role models for the girls."

Junior attacker Katie Basinger led the team in scoring with 50 goals, followed by junior attackers Hannah Stanley (43) and Haley Hewlett (43).

Sophomore goalie Cassie Todd had 175 saves.

Others expected to return are juniors Jessica Brown (midfielder), Hannah Hunt (midfielder), Kelsey Mack (midfielder) and Taylor McConnell (midfielder) and sophomores Jessica Bruce (defender), Brandi Dalton (attacker), Abigayle Demchak (defender), Kristin Johnson (attacker), Audrey Minor (midfielder), Devan Smith (midfielder), Hailey Spain (attacker) and Hannah Staats (defender).

"We get to keep most of our team from this year to the next, so that's exciting for us," Warner said.