By Megan Kelley
Review Writer
Lake Orion’s boys lacrosse team has big shoes to fill this year. As returning OAA Red champions for the third year in a row the team sets their sights on advancing outside of the regional championship for the first time, said Head Coach Ron Herbert.
The Dragons improved their record in their first OAA division game against Birmingham United on April 11 with an impressive 8-2 win over the Maples.
Leading Lake Orion in scoring was senior Kyle Loken with three goals. Rounding out the scoring with one goal a piece was Hunter McCarty, Sam Parillo, Dario Ruffini, Nicolo Ruffini and Willy Houser.
Dragon goalie Jack MacLeod added to the winning effort with 7 saves.
Later, on April 13 the boys took on Northville losing in overtime, 7-6.
Of the 16 returning players, Herbert has 10 seniors on the team this year.
Kyle Loken, Nicolo Ruffini and Jake Meteer take the lead as team captains.
Last season the team went 16-5 and were OAA Red division champions. The Dragons, however, often have trouble in the state tournament where they have never made it outside of the regional championship. In both cases, Lake Orion lost to teams they had beaten earlier in the season, Clakston twice and Bloomfield Hills last season, said Herbert.
This season, however, it’s too early to tell how the season will progress.
“(We) lost to a very good Plymouth team 9-6, but had two leads even as late as (the) fourth quarter and gave it away,” said Herbert.
This season, Clarkston, Rochester Adams and Bloomfield Hills share the same conference with Lake Orion, The boys will also take on last year’s division 2 champions, East Grand Rapids, at the end of April.
Currently, the Dragons are 4-2 overall and will travel to Troy High School to take on the Colts on April 16 after The Lake Orion Review goes to press.