STICK FIGHT: Princeton High boys’ lacrosse player Brendan Beatty runs through a longstick in a game last season. Senior midfielder and University of Vermont commit Beatty is primed for a big final campaign. PHS opens its 2025 season by hosting Summit on March 29. (Photo by Frank Wojciechowski)

By Bill Alden

Before preseason practices even started this spring for the Princeton High boys’ lacrosse team, Chip Casto sensed that his players were all in.

“We always set a goal on January 1st that by the beginning of the season on March 10 we have get 500,000 wall ball touches,” said PHS head coach Casto, who guided the Tigers to a 11-8 record and a spot in the Mercer County Tournament final last spring. “It is all self-reported and we have never even gotten past half. This year we were a little over 400,000. It feels like in the offseason they have all put the time in.”

Senior midfielder and University of Vermont commit Brendan Beatty is primed to ball in his final campaign.

“Brendan looks fantastic, he is driven to get better and better because he wants to ride to UVM and be ready to roll,” said Casto of Beatty who tallied 40 goals and 54 assists in 2024. “He is motivating everybody, he is full tilt.”

The PHS midfield will also feature junior Declan Hughes (8 goals, 4 assists in 2024) and sophomore Michael Frenia (2 goals, 1 assist).

“Declan will be on the field as much as possible, he is just a sound ground ball guy who will get a couple of goals here or there,” said Casto. “A real shining star is going to be Michael. He is a big, tough hard shooting middie. He is going to be a good one.”

On attack, senior Braden Barlag (52 goals, 16 assists) will be leading the way along with sophomore Gavin Pomraning (3 goals), senior Matt Thomson (9 goals, 1 assist), and senior Wyatt Arshan (2 goals, 1 assist).

“Braden is rock solid,” said Casto, noting that it will be hard to fill the void left by the graduation of star attacker Patrick Kenah, who tallied 61 goals and 47 assists last year before heading to Lafayette College to join its men’s lax program. “Braden and Gavin will carry the ball a lot, the two of them should hopefully carry Patrick’s mantle a little bit. Matt is a much better off-ball player, he doesn’t mind playing without the ball. He reads the field and cuts backdoor. It is a great complement to those guys. We are going to rotate people but somebody like Wyatt will play a little attack. He will show up there.”

Junior midfielder Carmine Carusone will be all over the field this spring for the Tigers, handling face-off duties and bolstering the defense. He will be joined in the defensive midfield by fellow juniors Nico Pisapia and Quinn Solvibile.

“We are really excited about Carmine, he is our face-off guy but now he has developed a little better defensively and a little better offensively,” said Casto of Carusone who won 145-of-246 face-offs last season. “He is becoming a pretty good well-rounded player. Carmine and Nico are our lead defensive midfielders. Our longstick midfielder will be Quinn. He can get out and run a little, he has got a good stick.”

The trio of senior Jack Crotty, junior Ryan Garlock, and sophomore Ben Kahn will be leading the PHS defense.

“Jack has shown up, his stick has gotten a lot better,” said Casto. “He is probably the best communicator we have. He really wants to do well, he is earnest. Ryan has really emerged, he will probably start on our close defense. He has done really well. Ben is emerging as a really good close defenseman.”

At goalie, senior Corbin Kasziba, junior Jacob Topolewski and freshman Samuel Gibb will be vying for time in the cage.

“Corbin last year had a lot of injuries last year and never recovered; he seems to be ready to roll, he is 100 percent,” said Casto. “We also have Jake and Sam. We are flush with goalies these days which is nice to have.”

In Casto’s view, the Tigers can have a nice season if they take care of basics.

“Goaltending is always a key, it needs to be good enough,” said Casto. “It is the same for the games, picking up ground balls and being able to finish and get easier goals. We need to take advantage of turnovers and just be more efficient on offense. We don’t have a whole lot of guys so we have to manage the game better and just be smarter.”