Northampton looks to stay on track with the growth of their boys’ lacrosse program as they look to compete in the East Penn Conference this spring.

New head coach Jace Shively enters his first season at the helm of the program following last year’s 2-16 record.

“We are a young team across the board with players learning how to play the modern game and some learning the game outright,” said Shively. “We have some 11th graders filling out our positional groups with some sophomores playing vital specialty positions. We have a small group of seniors, but they are contributors at key positions. It will be a good year for growth.”

The seniors back in the fold for the Kids this season include Vincent Gonsalves at midfield, Luke Brunst at defense and Anthony Belsky at attack. Kyle Collina and Anthony Baab are two other seniors that Shively will look to for experience.

Juniors Mason Ruff and Logan Curran fill out the defense and LSM respectively. Trey Rubino is a junior midfielder than can step into a leadership role and Greg Milnes understands the Kids’ offense for sets at attack.

Aiden Jones and Matt Urban are sophomore offensive players that give Shively hope of the future, while fellow sophomores Matt Tretter and Dylan Boehm are midfielders new to the game, but show promise with their athleticism. Kyle Wescoe and Nathan Bendekovits are defenders with great potential.

“We have a very eager group of sophomores that we are leaning on to learn the game and begin to make an impact this season,” said Shively. “This is a transition season for us at Northampton. Implementing the modern game is not an easy task, but our players are eager and excited to move forward and have already begun to see returns from their offseason and preseason work. We are not looking to run away with wins, but we are looking to execute within a system and compete. We are at the first step of that process and there is great promise from the attitude our players have.”