Dublin Jerome seeking lacrosse crown repeat
As his team took the field for a recent preseason practice, Dublin Jerome boys lacrosse coach Andy Asmo reflected on its potential, but added the season also brings new challenges.
Despite the loss of nine players to graduation, including three who earned all-state recognition, Asmo is confident his team can again contend for the Division I state title.
Jerome is coming off a championship season, defeating Upper Arlington 12-11 in the state title game to finish 22-2.
It marked the fourth state championship for the Celtics, but the first since the OHSAA began sanctioning the sport in 2017. They were playing in their first state tournament since 2014.
“We have a new batch of players and every team is different,” Asmo said. “I know a lot of people want to compare us to last year’s team, but it’s a different season and a different team. We lost some great leaders, but we also have some guys looking forward to the opportunity to step up and be new leaders.”
Jerome’s returning nucleus includes senior goalie Brady White, who was second-team all-state a year ago.
“We have to step it up a lot on defense,” said White, who will play at the U.S. Military Academy. “Teams throughout central Ohio are going to be coming for us. They wanted to beat us last year. We have a big target on our back, but pushing each other every day in practice is going to be the key to getting back to where we were.”
Asmo said seniors Aaron Gilliland and Andrew Lacksonen also could see time in goal.
Another key returnee is senior longstick midfielder Ethan Siddell, who was first-team all-state.
“We have different roles, but the expectations are still the same,” Siddell said. “Intensity has to stay the same. Our midfield has to keep being ball hawks and keep that energy up because we’re really good at pressuring the ball. We have to get good at finishing and keeping the attack accountable for putting the ball on the net and getting us goals.”
Also back after earning all-state honors are junior attacker Merek Tzagournis (second team), junior midfielder/faceoff specialist Brady Sestili (third team) and senior midfielder Chase Tzagournis (honorable mention).
“We did lose a lot of guys, but we have new guys that are stepping up,” Chase Tzagournis said. “We have guys with lesser roles last year who need to have bigger roles this year. I think we can do it, and hopefully have the same outcome that we had last year.”