With an 11-4 record and one game remaining in their regular season, Spencerport figured to be a second or third seed in the Class B Section V boys lacrosse playoffs. One more home game for the 12 seniors on the roster.
But it’s been balanced scoring from different players and various experience levels that has been one of the keys to the Rangers success this season.
Freshman Zach Tortora leads the team in goals with 34 and is second with 42 points. Right behind is senior Cameron Mesh with 29 goals, while sophomore Jayden Rodriguez leads with 27 assists and 44 points.
Also adding to the offensive options are sophomore Trevor Lewis with 28 goals and 34 points along with senior John Choate’s 23 points.
Even with the number of upperclassmen, underclassmen are seeing plenty of minutes and opportunities.
“We’ve practiced as a team all year and we work together to be better every day,” Rodriguez said. “The guys I have around me help me a lot.”
“I think I just try to do my part on the team, and I can’t do it without the rest of the team,” Tortora said. “We’re going to keep working hard and getting our playing time. Put the work in and get results.”
“It’s (variety of scoring) definitely different from the past and definitely helps us a lot having so many different guys who can score,” Mesh said. “Teams don’t know what to do – they don’t know how to stop us because you can’t stop six different people at once.”
That was on display during their senior night game against Gates-Chili, a 14-3 victory that featured nine different goal scorers.
“We lost all three attack men from last year, so we had a lot of new kids coming in, so it was a balancing act with all the young players coming in with our seniors,” head coach Bill Buttaro said.
“It’s a great thing having older kids teaching the younger kids and then having the younger kids become the older kids; it’s just how we’ve built the program. We’re now a K-12 program and not just a high school program, and we try to develop all the way up – that’s our goal.”
Defensively, the Rangers feature three seniors on defense in Sean Baird, Sammy Bernard Scoppo and Conor Morgan in front of junior Taylor Kaye in net.
The Rangers defeated Fairport this season for the first time ever and defeated McQuaid in overtime, Brighton, and both Webster programs among their 11 wins, as the difference between east side and west side teams continues to narrow.
Now the seniors and upperclassmen help prepare the younger players for the postseason that starts Wednesday.
“Hopefully getting into Sectionals here and get going more,” Rodriguez said.
“We lost to Canandaigua last year (in the sectional quarterfinals) and we just want to use that as fuel for this year, take this as far as we can and hopefully bring back a title,” Mesh summarized.
