Fox Chapel lacrosse has talent to thrive despite losses to graduation

By: Marty Stewart
Friday, March 20, 2020 | 9:27 PM

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The Fox Chapel High School boys lacrosse team posted an 11-5 record last year and made it to the quarterfinals of the WPIAL tournament.

To make a similar run this year, fourth-year coach Kevin Devinney will need to replace a lot of key players who graduated.

“We graduated the best class of seniors I have ever coached, and certainly one of the most talented classes to ever come through Fox Chapel from a talent, depth, and academics perspective,” he said. “Five guys from last year’s team are currently playing collegiate lacrosse and are already making impacts on their college teams. Our current sophomore class has a lot in common with last year’s seniors, but the bar has been set very high.”

He will have a talented group of returning starters and letterwinners at his disposal, starting in goal.

Senior goalkeeper Jackson Boychuk won academic All-American honors last season.

Seniors Jacob Correnti and Jack Flanagan will anchor the defense with junior Jack Scott.

“Our seniors will be the strength of the team this season,” Devinney said. “They are a good group of guys that have a lot of varsity experience among them. My hopes are that our underclassman will step up enough to make us a highly competitive team. There is a lot of talent there, but they also still have a lot to prove.”

Charlie Smith is the only returning senior midfielder, and he’ll play both sides of the ball when necessary, Devinney said. Attackmen Tobi Fennel and Woody March are expected to contribte offensively. Reed Troutman will play both long stick midfield and short stick midfield.

“All of these guys have been getting varsity time since their freshman or sophomore years,” Devinney said.

There will be promising newcomers to the team as well.

“I’m very excited to have senior Will Carnevale join the team this year,” Devinney said. “He will immediately strengthen our midfield position. We also have a bunch of new sophomores and a new freshmen this year, some of whom will likely see varsity time.”

Devinney said he believes the battle to make the playoffs will be a tough one with a lot of competitive teams.

“I expect roughly the same level of competition from each respective team in our section as last year,” he said. “I’m really excited to have a bunch of guys new to the sport this year. Our sophomore class ballooned to 21 players, many of whom are brand new to lacrosse, but are coming from other sports, namely soccer, football, wrestling and hockey.

“I expect these guys to turn into good lacrosse players in short time and make an immediate impact.”

Tags: Fox Chapel