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Valley Boys’ Lacrosse Was Ready to go Forward in 2020

The Valley Regional boys’ lacrosse team posted a successful season in 2019 in Head Coach Mike Orfao’s first year at the helm. The Warriors turned in an 8-9 record overall and qualified for the Class S State Tournament, and this year, Coach Orfao and company were hoping to build on that foundation to offer up another successful campaign in 2020. Unfortunately, the spring season has officially been canceled along with in-person schooling for the remainder of the 2019-’20 academic year due to the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.

Coach Orfao, felt proud of his team for adapting to a new coach and still managing a successful season after the departure former-coach George Hudson. Hudson and the Warriors had seen recent success, and to have a change like that and still reach the postseason really showed Orfao that he had a solid group.

“I believe the team did a great job last year adjusting to my coaching and approach to running a successful program. The team showed a lot of greatness on the field, and I believe it showed in our record,” Orfao said. “I started the season last year with two goals, make it to states and make it back to the Shoreline championship. We accomplished one of those goals because of the hard work each player put into the season, and I am proud of that.”

This year, the Warriors needed to fill the shoes of several departing seniors from 2019, but Coach Orfao didn’t think Valley would necessarily take a step back.

“Even though we lost a lot of seniors to graduation. I wouldn’t consider this season as a rebuild. We started last year building a foundation on what I expect out of our offense and defense, and the younger players all bought in,” Orfao said. “With that foundation built, I expected us to be a unified team that played with passion and desire to build on our success from last year.”

Leading the Warriors would have been senior captain Cam Frazier. Frazier earned the captain’s hat after last year’s banquet, and Coach Orfao thought that he was a natural choice for the role.

“The team chose one captain at the end of last season, Cam Frazier. Our second—and possibly third—captain would have been chosen during the preseason after seeing whose leadership came to the forefront during conditioning and who was keeping our players going,” Orfao said. “Cam was chosen by the team I believe for two reasons: his drive to always improve with an unstoppable work ethic, and his personality. Cam is a very likable player. Players can talk to him and approach him knowing he will treat them with respect.”

Coach Orfao anticipated that Valley’s success in 2020 would have been the result of a potent offensive attack. Some of the players that Orfao saw having the biggest impact in that arena were Frazier and sophomores Duncan Rider and Cooper Strecker.

“I believe our team’s biggest success would have come from the offensive side of the field. We were coming into this season with some seasoned offensive players, with the addition of some freshmen could have made us very challenging to match up against,” said Orfao. “Our team would have had a handful of players that would be considered an offensive threat, but Cam Frazier, Duncan Rider, and Cooper Strecker all play with intensity and a drive that keeps them hunting on the offensive side of the field.”

Orfao saw Valley’s offense as a strength, but the Warriors’ defense would have some catching up to do. Valley’s backfield was hardest hit by senior graduations, so Orfao was looking for players like junior Tommy Burch and sophomore Reece Whitney grow on defense.

“Not saying our defense would be a slouch, but defensively we took a bigger hit from the seniors that graduated. That being said, I got to talk to a lot of the players during the preseason, and the defensive players and goalies showed a desire to be stronger and more fierce than our defense from last year,” Orfao said. “Some players I was looking forward to seeing step up and take hold of the defense were Tommy Burch and Reese Whitney, but there were a lot of younger players I was eager to see on the field.”

As for the goalie position, the Warriors would have needed the preseason to determine who would be minding the net this year according to Orfao.

“This year we were going into the season with friendly competition in the spot of a goalie,” Orfao said. “I think this competition would have brought the best out of all goalies on the squad.”

Just as the preseason was ready to get underway, Coach Orfao and his athletes had to put on the brakes and sit in a holding pattern. Now, Coach Orfao tries to be a source of support for his athletes whether that be lacrosse-related or not.

“I have reached out the team a few times, more as general check-ins and to offer any help, whether that be a suggestion of an old college lacrosse game to watch for a particular offensive scheme or to help with any distance-learning struggles in any subject,” said Orfao. “I didn’t want to pester them too much, but I wanted to let them know I’m here to help and to keep those sticks moving when you have some downtime.”

As for the future, Coach Orfao is encouraged by the interest in lacrosse at Valley. He had a healthy group of players ready to take the field in 2020, and he hopes that continues.

“We were going into it with team numbers around 31 players. One goal I had when joining the Valley Regional lacrosse program, was to grow the culture and get more athletes interested in playing. Based on numbers alone I know we were building that interest in the sport,” said Orfao. “My biggest concern would be losing some of the momentum we have built up over the last three years. My advice is watch as much lacrosse as possible, find a wall, and come back next season with the best handling skills in the game.”