Warriors lacrosse wants to pick up where it left off BY MIKE WHITE Staff Writer The 2007 season for the New Egypt High School boys lacrosse team was highlighted with growing pains, as a young and talented Warriors squad finished with an overall mark of 8-11. NewEgypt closed its season on a positive note, winning three of its last four games to add respectability to a season littered with pockets of inconsistency.Warriors coach Jay Corby is confident this year's club can build on the momentum New Egypt gathered at the close of last season. "We really started to come around and play well at the end of last year," said Corby, whose team is scheduled to open its season April 1 with a conference match against Northern Burlington. "We had a lot of young guys playing at the varsity level. We expected to have to outgrow some of our mistakes. The guys have put in a lot of work in the offseason, and I'm expecting we are going to be much more competitive this season." New Egypt loses just one player to graduation. Gone is defenseman Travis Von Schmidt. That leaves New Egypt a bunch of returning starters led by seniors Lance Sutton, Shane Scherholz, Tom Carr and Tom Morton. Corby cites those guys as catalysts for this year's success. "We need these four guys to step up," Corby said. "We don't have many seniors on the team, so we're still a fairly young club. I'm confident these guys can shoulder the responsibility of leading this team. They have been here before and know how things are done." Scherholz andCarr shouldered the brunt of the Warriors' scoring last season. Scherholz finished with 32 goals and 17 assists, while Carr notched 33 goals and 15 assists. "We need them to put up numbers like that again," Corby said. "They did an awesome job for us last year. That is the kind of production we are looking for. They are capable of matching that and maybe even doing better." Junior returnees Cody Shields, Andrew Konop, twins Sam and Lane Hilburn, R.J. Healy, and Tim Dickert, all logged varsity minutes in 2007. Senior Jorge Baulelos returns after recovering from a knee injury. Healy could help out at the offensive end. He put up solid numbers last year, scoring 22 goals and adding five assists. "That gives us another bona fide scorer to look for in key spots," Corby said. "At times last year we struggled at the offensive end.We need that to change this season." Newcomers sophomores Kyle Amburgey, Pat Hampson, twins Alex and Andrew Hinger, Nick Puza, and Dave Wenskoski are all vying for minutes. "Some of these guys are going to figure in the mix this season," Corby said. "They're all pretty talented, and they are pushing for playing time. I think that they will get better as the season wears on. It'll be interesting to see which ones can step up and play at this level." Corby is optimistic that a rigorous scrimmage schedule, which includes matches against Rumson, Marlboro, Princeton, Red Bank Catholic and Freehold, will prepare his squad for the season. "We play a pretty tough preseason schedule," Corby said. "I should have a pretty good idea about where we stand by the end of it. Right now it's about getting out and working on fundamentals. It'll be interesting to see how the chemistry on this team works out."