After a successful 2022-2023 season, the Wayne Valley Boys Lacrosse team knew that they had to keep their strong momentum going. From day one, the team focused on building up every skill to create a strong and powerful team by going back to their roots and working on the basics.
Every day was a new opportunity for the team to get better. As soon as the season started, everybody could feel the hype for the new season. It was clear that the Wayne Valley Boys Lacrosse team was built on hard work and grit.
The team is coached by Robert Glander with assistant coaches Aaron Furnbach, David Ahlert, Hunter Rovere, Kyle Ryder, Tom Solimando, and Tommy Pellegrino. Despite the hard work the team did, they had some ups and downs and ended the season with a 7-12 record. However, this wasn’t the end for them. They still had one main goal: the county championship. They beat Pompton Lakes and Passaic Tech the week leading up to the championship, securing them a spot in the final match. This meant they had a rematch against West Milford, whom they beat 7-1 last year.
The days leading up to the championship were full of practicing plays and watching film. On game day, the Valley Indians ran on the field to defend their title. From the first whistle, they worked at 200%, gaining a lead of 7-0. Senior Colin Daroch said, “During the game I felt very confident. It started with a good warm up. Throughout the game, I started to see more shots taken on me. I felt good, and the game went on.” As the game progressed, West Milford and Valley started scoring goals and the game got close. Fortunately, Valley’s defense proved to overcome West Milford. Valley won the championship game for the second time in a row, a first in Valley history. The final score was 11-5. Once they won, senior captain Jakob Kirz explained, “It was an amazing feeling knowing we had made history. I kind of just stood there looking at the scoreboard for a second.” This was a big moment for the whole Valley Lacrosse program. When the trophy was lifted, it was clear on every player’s face that this was the biggest moment of their year.
Wayne Valley Lacrosse also had some monumental moments throughout the season, including new school records set and gaining new accolades. Senior Ryan Schmitz became the all-time point leader for Valley Lacrosse, scoring 148 points. He also ended with 100 career goals. Junior Logan Custance had similar success, scooping up 100 career ground balls and winning 200 faceoffs. But, we can’t forget about senior goalie Colin Daroch. Colin had a total of 400 career saves, later becoming Wayne Valley’s new all time saves leader.
Overall, this season was one to remember for Wayne Valley. The team had many ups and downs, amazing wins and excruciating losses. But they stayed humble and got better every time. Reflecting on the season, Senior Ryan Schmitz remarked, “The season feels great. We might not have the best record but that doesn’t show who we are as a team. We were all brothers.”
