Podcast: Dan Arestia tees up the Connecticut high school season

On this episode of the "Chasing the Goal" podcast, the guys break down the Connecticut high school season. (Fairfield Prep Athletics)

On this episode of New England Lacrosse Journal’s “Chasing The Goal” podcast, host Kyle Devitte is joined by Dan Arestia to break down the Connecticut high school boys lacrosse season.

Together, the duo examines the majority of the top high school boys teams across the state. Arestia, who lives in and has been covering lacrosse in Connecticut for a decade, goes through the top players in the FCIAC and the rest of the CIAC.

He also breaks down the best teams in each class and which teams are the favorites to have successful seasons.

Watch the full podcast below on YouTube. It’s also available on all major podcast platforms. If you enjoy it, please leave a rating and a review. Watch more episodes on the Chasing the Goal podcast channel.

Here are some excerpts from the pod.

Kyle Devitte: Darien is close to your heart. What is the deal with this team? Because I remember watching them at NELS, and they had a lot of sophomore and junior guys that are going to be their strength this year. Is that off-kilter at all?

Dan Arestia: No, that’s correct. I always start by looking at the guys who are gone. You lose two starting attack and one of them is Brady Pokorny, who is at Notre Dame now and started for four years. There are not a whole lot of guys who start for four years at Darien High School. In the last 20 years, you can probably count them on one hand. And they lose Porter Barnett, who’s at Richmond. That’s the other starting attack that they had.

Then you lose Will Bonner, who went to Tufts. Turn on the St. Anthony’s (N.Y.) tape from last year. I’ll tell you he’s going to Tufts and you’d be like, ‘What do you mean he’s not going to Maryland?” He’s that good. Then they lose Briggs McGuckin, who’s at Loyola. Bonner is an LSM. McGuckin is more of a two-way midfielder, and he just dominated the middle of the field for that team last year.

Kyle Devitte: Let’s talk about a team that has had a lot of success in the last three, four, five years — Staples. Where do we see them this year? 

Dan Arestia: I think you lose a couple of key pieces like Ben Burmeister in the midfield. I know he kind of ended up missing a lot of last year anyway with injury. But look, this team is awesome. We should start in goal with Josh Marcus. I think we all kind of know that that’s the case. Adam Udell, a Michigan commit, was their best player on offense last year and is a senior this year. I think you want to watch him as somebody who’s gonna draw the top pole, but still be relied on to kind of win that matchup.

A fun guy to watch for them is Nate Maurillo, who started for them as a freshman. He’s probably gonna go down low for them this year as a sophomore, but he is a player who, even though he is as young as he is, probably gets leaned on to win some matchups. He’s a defensive impact guy. Then Justin Halky had a bit of a star turn for them from the midfield last year. He hit some big goals, hit an OT game-winner for them. He’s a very dynamic dodger in the midfield, so I think those are the kind of names there that I’m most intrigued to watch.

@TheKyleDevitte
kyle.devitte@laxjournal.com

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