Millionaires look to come on strong

LENOX – After losing nine seniors, and eight starters, head coach Matt Cote is keeping his lips sealed on his team’s expectations after winning western mass. last year and finishing the league with a (13-0-3) record.

“I expect to have a slow start, but I am going to keep my goals under my hat,” Cote said.

Cote does return four of his core starters in the middle of the field, from the goalie position with senior captain and four-year starter Kathy Prescott a possible All-County goalie for Lenox this year.

On the defensive line Hayden Zinchuk, a fellow senior captain, who is a “superstar” according to Cote.

On the front line, senior captain Jen Delasco will be expected to follow up last year’s goal production (15 goals) with another strong year tallying points.

“She is going to get a lot of attention this year,” Cote said of Delasco. “It won’t surprise me if one of them [senior captains] is All-Berkshire County MVP.”

Playing alongside Zinchuk on the backline will be former attacker Jane Fitzgerald to solidify the line in front of Prescott, who according to her coach is a “game –saver.”

In the middle of the field, and controlling it, will be junior Josie Marshall and an exciting freshman, Alessandro Arace, who could have the biggest impact on the team and possibly move the Millionaires back into western mass contention.

“[Arace’s] reputation was that she is a skilled player, and sure enough she is not only one of the most skillful players on the team but she is also one of the fastest,” Cote said of his freshman.

Another surprise for this year’s team is sophomore Allie Connoll, who earned a starting spot on the defensive line alongside Fitzgerald and Zinchuk.

“[Connoll] worked tremendous hard in the last year to put herself in a starting role,” Cote said. “I have three really strong defenders, I just need to figure out my fourth defender, my outside mid-fielders and who I am going to put up with [Delasco].”

One possibility is junior Lydia Graham, who is not blessed with size but she certainly makes up for it with exceptional athletic ability.

“We will work the ball slowly, we are not going to be able to play kick and run,” said Cote. “We are not going to be the team with all the speed that is going to blow by you, we are going to have to get numbers in the box – we are more of a blue collar team.”

Last year’s team had signature wins over Pittsfield High and Wahconah, bigger Division 1 schools that helped pave the way for the Division 3 Millionaires to cruise through the western mass. tournament.

“We beat Wahconah for the first time anyone can remember; that win with a win over Pittsfield, was huge for us,” Cote said.

During the pre-season this year, Lenox was able to go up against Division 1 and Boston City school, Somerville, at a camp in Otis last Sunday.

Lenox lost 3-0 in the friendly but plan to gear up for another pre-season jamboree in Pittsfield against both Pittsfield High and St. Joe, to determine what exactly Lenox needs to work on heading into their opener versus Division 3 Hampden County School (Chicopee).

“We may struggle with the D1 and D2 schools and in the north, “ said a coy Cote.

Expect Lenox to have a formidable defense and rack up wins in a lot of low-scoring games but still be at the top of the county division come November.

Posted by Tim Davis on August 30, 2012. Filed under High School Sports,Sports. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry