The Parkland High School boys lacrosse team was under new leadership during the 2023 season and the tradition of success continued under first-year head coach Vincent Arezzi.

The Trojans went 18-5 overall and an undefeated 9-0 mark in the Eastern Pennsylvania Conference, advancing to the championship game in both the EPC and District 11. They also won a game in the state tournament as well.

“I’m proud of my first season here as the head coach,” said Arezzi. “We had an 18-5 final record with an EPC and District 11 finals appearance, where we came in as the top seeds.

To wrap that up with a PIAA opening round win and quarterfinal appearance, made for an incredible journey. Only one other Parkland team, the highly successful 2017-2018 team under Coach [Brad] Shifko has gone that far. Just as importantly, we laid the groundwork for expectations and style of play for our talented group of underclassmen this year.”

His first season had a lot of positive moments, but a pair of moments came to the forefront of the mind of Arezzi.

“For us, as coaches, two things stand out,” Arezzi said. “The final two weeks of the regular season, where we had to play Garnet Valley, Easton, Freedom and Emmaus all in a row was a tough, but rewarding experience. The excitement and energy around those games offset the grind of playing difficult opponents and earned us a top seed going into EPC and district playoffs. The other thing was the resiliency after the loss to Easton in the EPC finals. They showed up at practice ready to move forward and we were able to rebound against Easton in the district semifinal game.”

After defeating Central York 15-13 in the first round of states, the final game of the season came when Parkland fell to LaSalle College High School 10-1 on June 10.

“We knew going in that it was going to take our absolute best to even keep it close,” said Arezzi. “They are a very refined team with several Division 1 recruits and a highly accomplished set of coaches. Their defense was the best we’ve seen this year, and one of the most talented high school defenses I’ve come across in my coaching career. They are truly a state-championship caliber team and tested us all over the field.”

The Trojans had 10 seniors graduate from the team this year, including Chris Andersen, Michael Chimics, Drew Filipovits, Jeff Gerdes, James Hohenshilt, Maverick Kistler, Chase Kusko, Victor Pagan, Anthony Schultz and Jack Urso.

“Having been an assistant coach here, I’ve had the privilege of working this senior group since they were sophomores,” Arezzi said. “The group had so much overall talent, leadership and competitive fire that we knew we would at least compete for district and EPC championships, even if we didn’t win one. I hope the younger guys on the team were able to glean some of the lacrosse IQ and game knowledge that helped make this team special. We were able to fully realize the type of offense and defenses we wanted to run this year, largely due to the abilities of the senior class.”

There is still a talented group expected to return for the 2024 season.

“One of the most exciting things about next season is the talent in this year’s underclassmen,” said Arezzi. “While next year’s senior class will be smaller and we will be an overall younger team, the large group of freshmen that joined us this season show tremendous promise and will be able to play at a high level in the years to come.”