As we are now inside the the top five teams in the LILJ preseason rankings, the Shoreham Wading River Wildcats come in at number five. This team had the most prolific offense of any team on Long Island last year, averaging over 16 goals per game. Despite their lethal offense and a 13-2 record they were defeated in the Suffolk Class C semifinals against Bayport by just one goal. Head Coach Mike Taylor guided the Wildcats to a state championship as recently as 2019 and this year they hope to once again finish on top. With a mixture of youth and veterans they will have a great chance of doing some amazing things this year. Coach Taylor shared how he feels about his team heading into the 2022 season.
“The team has a lot of young talent and a good core of returning leaders at every position. We will go as far as our young guys progress through the regular season.”
The driving force of their offense will come from junior attackman Alec Gregorek (Navy) and sophomore attackman Liam Kershis. This duo is one of the best one-two punches on the entire island. They are both natural scorers and work extremely well together with Gregorek being a great player off-ball. In 2021 Gregorek scored 43 goals to go along with 19 assists as a sophomore, while Kershis scored 38 goals with 27 assists for 65 points as a just a freshman! They will surely be a scary combination for the next couple of years. One of their returning midfielders is senior Francisco Cortes (Harvard). Cortes poses a threat as both a scorer and a facilitator. He ended last season with 17 goals and 15 assists.
The team did lose a lot offensively which can’t be understated. Among those who were in the class of 2021 were Jeffrey Lachenmeyer, and Johnny Schwarz. The two combined for 123 points last season. Schwarz was also the 2021 Suffolk County midfielder of the year. Tyler Kitchen is another key loss from their offense, accounting for 30 points. They will also be without defenseman Tyler Schwarz and LSM Jake Wilson. One key returning player for their defense is defenseman/LSM Jake Whitney (Siena).
It’s looking like junior Jon Gordon will be the starting goalie this year. He is replacing Robert Troyano who notched 102 saves.
Two young guns that got playing time last year and should see even more time are Liam Gregorek and Alex Kershis. They both play midfield and are entering their sophomore season after combining for 17 points last year. Also expect bigger roles from juniors Steven Cain and Ryan Herr who had a combined 18 points as sophomores.
This year there are a handful of notable matchups on the schedule for the Wildcats. Here are some of their big games this season.
Bayport @ Shoreham (4/8)
Shoreham @ East Islip (4/13)
Shoreham @ Comsewogue (4/20)
Shoreham @ West Islip (5/3)
Shoreham @ Mt. Sinai (5/12)
The program has had a few players who are now alumni that went on to do big things at the next level. Tim Rotanz (2013) played collegiately at Maryland and was a three-time All-American in high school. Chris Gray (2017) was an All-American his senior year before going to play at UNC. Xavier Arline (2020) currently attends Navy and earned All-American, First-Team All-State and First-Team All-Long Island honors his senior year. He was also a four-time All-County attackman.
