With his team having a lot of first-season varsity athletes, Greenwich High School boys lacrosse coach Bobby Lutz expects this spring’s 2023 squad to take a bit of time to find its way, as it navigates through the season.

“We are definitely young this year, but with very talented players,” Lutz said. “Hopefully, they can develop quickly enough to make immediate impacts, but there is definitely going to be some growing pains, especially with the new tier divisions and more OOC (out of conference) games.”

The Cardinals do have a number of upperclassmen on their roster, but they also showed their inexperience of competing at the varsity level in their season-opener against non-conference foe Pleasantville (N.Y.) High School on Saturday.

Greenwich was defeated by Pleasantville, 12-6, on the road in its season-opening game. Last season saw the Cardinals register a 14-6 win over Pleasantville at Cardinal Stadium.

“It was a tough opening day for the Cards,” Lutz said. “After building a 3-1 lead in the first, Pleasantville outplayed us the rest of the game.  They are a solid team, but we definitely showed our youth and inexperience.  We have a lot to work on, but we will get better with more practice.”

Greenwich is coming off a successful 2022 campaign in which it advanced to the FCIAC Tournament semifinals and the quarterfinal-round of the CIAC Division I State Tournament. The Cardinals edged Ridgefield, 10-9, in the 2022 FCIAC Tournament quarterfinals, then lost to Darien, 8-5 in the semifinals.

In last season’s Division I state tourney, Greenwich cruised to a 15-2 triumph against Amity in the opening round, before dropping a 16-4 decision to tournament finalist Darien in the quarterfinals. The 2022 season saw the Cards register a stellar record of 13-7, with three of those defeats coming against Darien.

However, the Cardinals graduated more than 15 players from last season’s successful squad, including their five senior captains/leaders James Pilc, Bryce Metalios, Flynn Milledge, Quinn Warwick and Charlie Zola. Metalios, the team’s leading scorer a season ago, Pilc and Warwick each earned All-FCIAC Second Team honors in 2022.

“It was a great group,” Lutz said. “It was one of the stronger teams I’ve had.”

Among some of the returning players from last spring’s squad are senior captains Brian Collins and Matthew Trimmer. A three-sport athlete/captain, Trimmer is a close defender and long stick midfielder. He received All-FCIAC Second Team recognition last year.

“I feel good about our team, we have some good returning guys,” said Trimmer, who also captained Greenwich’s state championship football team and the ice hockey team, which advanced to the state tournament semifinals. “Overall, we’re pretty young this year and I’m excited to see how these young guys are going to do and how well they step up.”

Collins was one of Greenwich’s overall leading scorers in 2022 and topped the team in assists.

“It’s a super young team, we graduated a ton of seniors last year,” Collins said. “I think we graduated 19 seniors, so we’ve been going hard in practice to work everything out. There are a lot of new guys and new positions for them. There is a lot talent on the field and a lot of potential.”

The upcoming week has Greenwich playing on the road against another non-conference foe, Bronxville (N.Y.) on Tuesday. Saturday, Greenwich plays its home-opener, as Weston, another out of conference foe, visits Cardinal Stadium for a 12 p.m. matchup.

“We are definitely going to have some growing pains,” Lutz noted. “They are a hungry group and they feel like they have something to prove. They are playing with an edge they want people to know about them.”

Collins is expected to lead the attack position, along with sophomore Mikey Brescia, who had a standout freshman season on offense, a year ago.

“Mikey has excellent vision and a very high lax IQ,” Lutz said. “He will definitely be a D1 player once eligible.”

Freshman Dean Kim begins his first Cardinals season and is starting at attack.

“Byrce Metalios (who is playing lacrosse at MIT and is among the leaders in the conference in points) is almost impossible to replace, but Dean is coming very close. He’s an excellent two-handed player with the confidence of an upperclassman.”

Said Collins: “We’re hoping to generate a lot of points between the three of us.”

Sophomore Colin Zeller is one of the athletes the Cards are counting on for production in the midfield.

“Colin Zeller is the son of Brian Zeller, a former captain at Maryland,” Lutz noted.  “He grew to almost 6-foot-3 and plays like it. “He has a cannon and can shoot with both hands. He’ll be the main focus of opposing defenses, but might be able to mature fast enough that it won’t matter.”

Junior Jimmy Flinn, junior Jake Duda and Boden Farmer, a freshman, are each midfielders and will be relied upon for production at the position.

Trimmer leads a defensive unit that could be one of the squad’s strengths.

“He plays with reckless abandonment, but his athleticism is off the charts,” Lutz said of Trimmer. “Being a three-sport captain (football and hockey) has only happened a handful of times at Greenwich High School.”

Trimmer will continue his lacrosse career at the Division I level at Providence College.

“I enjoy playing every sport, but this is my sport, this is the one that is taking me to the next four years of my life,” Trimmer said. “I’m looking forward to playing at Providence, I’m super excited to take that next step. Right now though, my only focus is GHS lacrosse and working toward a championship this year.”

“To do that, these young guys have to understand their role on the varsity level,” Trimmer continued.

Adam Kim, Dean Kim’s older brother, is a junior close defender/long stick midfielder.

“He is a ground ball vacuum and a lockdown defender,” Lutz said of Adam Kim. “Adam has a very high lax IQ.”

George Vomvolakis, a junior long stick middie, will also help solidify the defensive unit.

“He is another super athletic player,” Lutz said. “He has speed and is very physical.”

Teddy Johnson, a freshman close defender, is also expected to play a key defensive role.

“He (Johnson) has quickly picked up the concepts and will be another high-level player in the immediate future,” Lutz noted.

Kane Ehrhart and Charlie Dixon, both of whom are senior short stick defensive midfielders, joined the team for their first varsity lacrosse season.

“That unit as a whole is very solid,” Trimmer said. “Overall, we have some young guys, but they’ve been around the game and they are looking good. They are new to the varsity level, but they’ll pick it up.”

Ilan Amaro, a sophomore who transferred from Brunswick School, is the Cards’ starting goalie. He made 10 saves in the team’s loss to Pleasantville. Jack Hamel, a freshman, is also a goalie. In the team’s loss against Pleasantville on Saturday, Collins tallied two goals and two assists, while Brescia had two goals and one assist for the Cardinals. Flinn and Dean Kim added one goal apiece.

“Last season, we had some big wins, but obviously, we didn’t get the end result we wanted, but it was a great team,” Collins said. “Our end goal is to win the state championship and FCIAC championship before that. We’re doing our best to get ready for the big games. Some of these kids don’t have varsity experience, so they are getting used to playing at this level.”

“Our goals are to make a run for FCIACs and states,” Lutz said. “With this group it’s almost like the first goal is to get them to play at a certain level. The goal is to build chemistry and confidence and then when that happens, the next goal is to win big games. Then, the next goal is to be a contender.”