Freedom will have a new leader in the boys’ lacrosse department this spring when Tony Fabrizio takes over the reigns of the program.

The Patriots are coming off a 4-11 season a year ago and hope that Fabrizio can instill a new sense of enthusiasm into the program.

“I am very excited on being chosen to coach here at Freedom,” Fabrizio said. “There were many accomplished candidates that applied for the position, and I feel grateful for Freedom to give me a chance to bring my experiences to the lacrosse team. Being from the Lehigh Valley, it is amazing to see how the sport has grown in the near 15 years I have been involved with it.”

Fabrizio is a Bethlehem resident who played lacrosse at DeSales University from 2009-2012, and club lacrosse for the past eight years. He previously coached at Easton for two years, as their varsity assistant coach and their JV co-head coach in addition to coaching for several years at different lacrosse clubs in the area.

As an Easton graduate, Fabrizio hopes he can turn the Patriot program into the consistent threat that the Rovers have become in the East Penn Conference.

“The biggest obstacle I will have to combat at Freedom is the number of players in the high school program,” he said. “At Easton, there were three feeder programs coming into the one program, whereas at Freedom we have one that Freedom and Liberty split based on where the child lives. I do, however, look forward to working with the feeder program to help out where ever I can to help grow the number of players coming up.”

As far as goals for the program, Fabrizio keeps it in proper perspective.

“My goal for the program is pretty basic and simple,” he said. “I want my players to come out of the program being better men and better members of our community. If I’m able to teach half of the life lessons that they have taught me, my players will be outstanding men. I feel that this is the most important role as a coach. As far as on the field goals, I am looking to make my boys better lacrosse players and a closer team, which I am hoping will result in a playoff birth of some sort this season. Looking down the road, I’m looking to take Freedom to the next level of lacrosse in the Lehigh Valley where I am hoping to consistently be looked at as one of the top tier teams in the Valley.”