Vikings look like GMC's team to beat again
Defending conference champs return plenty of firepower
BY GEORGE ALBANO
Staff Writer

PHOTOS BY JEFF GRANIT staff Above, South Brunswick's Zach Zenda lines up a shot during the Vikings' season-opening game against Don Bosco Prep on Monday at Rutgers University in Piscataway. Below, South Brunswick's Chris Laurita tries to keep control of the ball while being checked by Bosco's Adam Hutchinson.

You will have to excuse the South Brunswick High School boys lacrosse team if they seem a bit "offensive" this season.

There should certainly be no shortage of offense by the Vikings, who return a whopping 175 goals from last year's 14-5 team that won the Greater Middlesex Conference championship and advanced to the quarterfinals of the NJSIAA Group IV state tournament.

"We're very experienced offensively," understated head coach Mark Zielinski, now in his ninth season.

Of the 175 returning goals, 114 of them were scored by three junior starters on attack, who all return this season. Theo Smyk is coming off a 41-goal campaign, while Chris Laurita tallied 38 and Kevin Lally, the third senior, registered another 35.

In fact, Smyk picked up right where he left off by scoring three goals in the Vikings' season opener on Monday, a tough 12-9 loss to visiting Don Bosco Prep.

"They're ranked 14th in the state and it was a one-goal game with two minutes left," Zielinski pointed out. "Then we made a defensive mistake and they scored to make it a two-goal game. After that it kind of got away from us."

The Vikings should also be strong at midfield, led by senior co-captain Kory Kelly, who gives South Brunswick another scoring threat. Last season, Kelly blew out his knee in the first game and was out the rest of the season.

"His season was over after 28 minutes," Zielinski said. "But he had 95 career goals as a freshman and sophomore. Now we're looking for him to return to his goal-scoring form as a senior."

Kelly, who's headed for Rutgers, didn't waste any time showing everyone he was indeed back, matching Smyk with three goals in the opening loss to Don Bosco.

Joining Kelly at midfield are senior Shane Foley, who had 28 goals last season, and Zach Zenda, who added another 14 goals.

Backing them up is a solid second middie line composed of senior Steve Fellouris, junior Brian Presti and sophomore Cody McHugh.

But offense isn't the only phase of the game where the Vikings excel. They can play pretty good defense, too, with senior co-captain Chris Ciabattone, who started last year, and first-year starters Joe Ameika, another senior, and sophomore Eric Lorber leading the way.

Defensive specialists include juniors Jeff White, Aaron Gittleman, Gary Kohutanycz and John Mandel, while senior Tommy Choi will rotate in on long stick.

Meanwhile, junior Luke Zabel is starting in goal for the second year in a row after a solid sophomore season.

"He had a great season for us last year as a sophomore," Zielinski said. "But as a junior he needs to step it up and dominate. He needs to be more consistent game in and game out."

The backup goalie is freshman Alex Reinfeldt.

"Our goal this year is to win the division and county," Zielinski, who also led South Brunswick to the GMC championship in 2001 and a divisional title in 2004, said. "We want back-to-back county championships. That's something our program has never done.

"We also want to compete for the Group IV state championship," he added. "For the last couple of years the quarterfinals has been our stumbling block (they lost 12-10 to Hunterdon Central last year), so we want to overcome that this year."