New lineup working for Mars lax
BUFFALO TWP — Some new faces are now part of the starting lineup for the Mars boys lacrosse team, but through 10 games, the results are very familiar.
An 18-0 victory at Freeport on Monday improved the Planets to 10-0 this season, outscoring their opponents by a combined score of 154-39 in the process.
Aiding the effort are first-year starters Ian Coulter at attack, Dylan Phillips, Dom Caldwell and Ben Bowser in the midfield and Jack Mueller on defense. Coulter, Bowser and Mueller are sophomores doing their part to keep Mars an elite program after the Planets won the Class 2A state championship last spring.
“With this year’s senior class, we have a lot of great leaders, probably up there with the best we’ve ever had,” Mars coach Bob Marcoux said. “It started last summer when they took the younger players under their wing and it continued through the fall and winter.
“We talked about getting back to the state final all the time last year because we lost there the previous season. We don’t mention it at all now. This season is about the older guys setting their own legacy.”
Mars’ success in recent years has been due in large part to dominating faceoffs. There’s been no dropoff this season with Jack McKenzie and Ian Edinger keeping possession with the Planets, helping the new starters contribute on a tilted field.
“Jack’s winning 80 percent of the time,” Marcoux said.
Junior defender Cole Yoshioka is one of the starters who returned, but has taken on more responsibility.
“With Quinn Fuller graduated, I’ve become our lockdown defender,” he said. “It’s fun causing turnovers, seeing the reaction of my teammates. It gets everybody going.”
The defense kept the Yellowjackets off the scoreboard Monday as goalies Jonathan Grieco, Luke Spreng and David Renner each had a hand in the shutout.
Senior midfielder Kyle McEwen scored five times to lead Mars. Dylan Phillips, Enzo Grieco, Jack Dunham, Jack Tirch and Bowser each added two goals apiece.
Nate Legin and Quinn Hanak split time in goal for Freeport (2-5), which has defeated Latrobe and Allderdice this spring. The Yellowjackets have not qualified for the postseason since reaching the WPIAL semifinals in 2019.
“We have four seniors and two of them didn’t play last year,” said first-year Freeport coach Matt Hanak. “We have a lot of freshmen getting playing time.
“We’ve had a strong effort and it’s really shown on defense both in transition and when we’re stacked up, but we need to see more ball movement on offense.”
The Planets host Winchester Thurston on Wednesday while Freeport hosts Plum on Friday.
