2024 Men's Lacrosse Preview
Jose Rodriguez '24, Staff Writer | Media & Communications
SALEM, Mass. -- Salem State will be looking forward to turning the tables in 2024. The Vikings have four captains for the 2024 season, with Kyle Tammaro (Saugus, Mass.), Liam Bernardi (Medford, Mass.), Mike Zarro (Peabody, Mass.), and Glen-Thanh Doan (Lexington, Mass.) leading the team under men's lacrosse head coach Stephen Driscoll, who is in his third season.
Coach Driscoll talked about his key returners. "Our key returners will be Kyle Tammaro (Saugus, Mass.), Liam Bernardi (Medford, Mass.), Mike Zarro (Peabody, Mass.), and Glen-Thanh Doan (Lexington, Mass.). All four players are our "leaders" for the 2024 season. Mike and Glen ("GT") will be leading our defense and be the vocal leaders on the defensive end of the field while Kyle and Liam will lead our midfield and attack group. All four players have been intrical parts of our program since the moment they joined the team. They all care deeply about the success of this program and want to leave the program better than when they arrived."
Coach Driscoll also talked about the upcoming freshmen. "We have a great freshmen class this year. Ryan Cohen (Bedford, Mass.)- Goalie, Payton Cabral (Lancaster, Mass.)- Attack, Coleman Ballweg (Portland, Maine)-Attack, Gabriel Laprade (Holland, Mass.) - Defense, Cameron Smith (Beverly, Mass.) – Attack, Connor Vittands (Gloucester, Mass.) -Attack, Matt Lindstrom (Peabody, Mass.) - Attack, Lucas Foley (Abington, Mass.) – LSM, and Dalesandro Zelaya (Woburn, Mass.) – Midfield. All of our freshmen will make an immediate impact and see the field consistently. This group is a group that really wants to be a part of the change in culture for our program and work towards elevating our team in the Little East and strive to make themselves better everyday in practice. They understand how big of a leap it is from high school lacrosse to college lacrosse speed wise and they are taking coaching and advice from older players extremely well. I am very excited to see what this class can do in four years in our program."
The coach talked about the transfer-athletes and that we should take a closer look at during the season. "We have a few really great additions to our team and program in the terms of transfer student-athletes. Cam Collins – Midfield (Keiser University), Ryan Rice – LSM/Defense (Bridgewater State), Tim Eddings – Attack (Graduate Student, Eastern Nazarene College) will all make an immediate impact on the field. Our offensive side of the ball has really seen a jolt of energy in practice from guys like Cam and Tim, both are very offensive minded players that see the game in unique ways when the ball is in their sticks. Both of those players will be relied upon to bring energy and scoring to our offense."
He spoke about the games that are going to be the biggest in the conference. "The Little East Conference is a very competitive conference in Division III lacrosse in the northeast. Playing games against UMass Boston, Keene State, Western Conn. State, Plymouth State, can be extremely challenging game in and game out. We want that challenge though, we want to be tested to see how we match up against the best of the best. Being able to win games in the Little East and compete for a conference playoff spot is important and a goal of everyone involved in our program. We have a great non-conference schedule this year with teams like MCLA, Anna Maria, Elms, Mt St. Vincent College, Thomas College, and Regis to really get us prepared for our conference play. We are very excited about how competitive we will be in games this season."
Tammaro spoke about certain things that he is happy about during the preseason that he hopes will carry over to the regular season. "I'm really happy about the energy and focus. In my four years here, this seems like the most motivated group of players I've been apart of so far. The guys are showing up ready to work every day and competing hard which makes everyone on the roster better."
The captain talked about the expectations that he has for the season. "The expectations right now are to get better every single day. It's hard to have expectations after a season like last year, but if we continue to grind each day I only expect good things to happen."
The Saugus native spoke about the preparation he has done during the off-season to get prepared for the 2024 season. "I've done a lot this off-season. I've been on the field doing shooting, wall ball, watching loads of film, and staying in contact with my teammates/coaches the entire time."
Zarro expressed what he is witnessing so far during the preseason. "Our team has a drive for competition, a sense of pride, and a brotherly bond that gets our momentum going everyday preparing for the season."
He talked about what kind of expectations that he has for this upcoming season. "No expectation is too high, and no limits are capped on our team, we striving to get the most wins in the Salem State record books."
The senior from Peabody talked about what he has been working on during the off-season to get prepared for the 2024 season. "This off-season I have prepared my mind and strengthened my passion for the game of lacrosse with wall ball stick work, recovering from last year's injury, and of course strength training."
Bernardi talked about what he has seen from his teammates during the preseason that he hopes will carry over to the regular season. "I think our team cardio has been improving well so far just in these first weeks so I'm excited to see how it will be during the year. I'm also excited for our competitiveness and energy through the season."
The Medford native talked about the expectations that he has for the season. "This year's squad has a lot of potential, more than I've seen the past two years, and this could be a very big year for the program. All of our games before conference play are winnable and I do believe that we have a good shot at making it to the Little East playoffs."
He mentioned what he has been doing during the off-season to prepare for the upcoming season. "During the beginning of the off-season, I was focusing on healing and strengthening my knee, but closer to the start of the first semester I began to focus on strength and cardio training as well as daily wall ball and shooting to keep my stick skills good."
Glen-Thanh Doan talked about the team's pre-season approach. "So far I've been very impressed by everyone's coachability, especially the newer members of our team, each and every one of them has been working hard and has been very receptive to any feedback they have received. Another thing I'm excited about going forward is the team synergy, coming onto the team last year. While we were quite the tight-knit group, there's just a different feeling and different kind of atmosphere at practice. Everyone is on the same page, we're all getting ready for the season, there's not as much unnecessary fooling around, everyone is committed to the success of the team and I couldn't be more excited to see what that brings this year."
The Lexington native talked about what the team is doing as a whole to prepare for the season. "We've all been playing countless hours of wallball, studying high-level lacrosse film, as well as working on our mental and physical fitness. The team we have gathered this year is one that is exceptionally hard-working and one that I am proud to be a part of. Coach Driscoll has helped us organize team lifts in the off-season to ensure that we are all holding each other accountable and making sure that we are moving forward as a team.
The Vikings will begin the season on a two-game road trip when they will face MCLA and Anna Maria starting on February 27. Salem State's home opener versus Mt. St. Mary at Alumni Field is on March 2 with game time at 1:00 p.m.