SJCI Lacrosse

By Charles Kowalski

The 2024 St. Joe's Lacrosse season is off to a solid start 9-4 with a couple of  special wins over Canisius 10-5 and 10-2! The team has dominated on defense with senior and Seton Hill commit Evan Becignual leading the team as the defensive captain. The offense also has no fear of running up the scoreboard. The offense is led by senior and Maritime commit Jack Kane. “The team has shown a lot of potential in the first couple of games. Especially for how young the team is,” senior Sebastian Lattore said. 

Last year was a huge success for the program as the team went 13-4 and in excellent fashion won the MMHSAA championship as the team beat Nichols 15-4 in the Semi-Finals and then beat Canisius 16-1 in the championship finals winning the program's 7th league title in a row. The team made it all the way to states as they lost to Iona Prep 13-8 in a valiant effort. The team was a total success but, came with a cost that the team would face last season  

Last year there were 18 seniors on the roster last year which was 48% of the roster. That senior class included multiple college commits such as Tyler Smart ‘23, a D1 Air force commit. The team had adapted a whole new regime this off-season with the call-up of many underclassmen who were not used to the varsity style of play.  

With 17 total freshmen and sophomores, which is up just about half of the team at 37 players total. With a total of 24 first-time variety players, the team is very new so getting used to the varsity style of play has been a challenge but the team is overcoming the odds and playing as a true team. 

The captains have stepped up this season as both returning 3-year varsity players. Senior attackman Jack Kane has led the team in both goals and assists closely followed by 10th grader Griffin Vranjes this year and has shown great leadership out there. On the other side of the ball, senior defenseman Evan Becignual has stepped his game up causing great defensive stops. 10th grader Stone Rozak says, “They both do a great job at leading our team through practices and keep us level when we are having a rough day.” 

The must-watch games that are coming up are definitely playoffs when we face all of the other Monsignor Marten teams and hopefully win our 8th title in a row.