The Shoreham Wading River Wildcats are in the top five of our top 20 rankings, coming at No. 4. This team is back and is loaded with an abundance of talent especially on the offensive side of the ball. Last year they were defeated in the county finals and will look to get over that hump this year and bring home a Long Island and state championship which would be their first since 2019. Head Coach Mike Taylor who has been leading these young men for the past nine seasons gave his thoughts on the upcoming season. “We return 95% of our offense. We have a team that is hungry and with playoff experience. We will need to play a 110 yard game to reach our goal.”
Highlighting this offense that looks to be a juggernaut this season, the attack starts with the dynamite trio of Liam Kershis, Alec Gregorek, and Steven Cain. Kershis the Duke bound junior is one of the most prolific attackmen the island has seen over the past few years. He’s an explosive dodger going right or left, and is a premier distributor as he posted a gaudy stat line of 45 goals and 35 assists in 2022. Gregorek the senior who’s headed for Navy and is a team captain, is another dynamic goal scorer that finds the back of the net in a flurry, as he exploded with 66 goals plus 26 assists for 92 points. Rounding out this trio is Steven Cain the Marist commit who serves as a high level catch and shoot finisher that also consistently finds his teammates when they are in a position to score.
The Wildcat midfield is headlined by Navy bound Liam Gregorek, Marist commit Ryan Herr and Dartmouth commit Alex Kershis. Gregorek will play a pivotal role at the face-off X and will surely add plenty of offense as he did last season with 19 goals and 19 assists. Herr who is another team captain can create from up top with his ability to get a step on defenders. Last season he was third on the team in assists with 22 and also added 18 goals. Kershis will have a hand in this lethal offense whether it’s as a scorer or a facilitator as he did last season contributing with 12 goals and 10 assists. The primary difference is that this season the midfield will be without 2022 graduate Francisco Cortes who accounted for 43 points last season. The 12.4 goals per game that Shoreham averaged last season was good for the third most among Suffolk County teams.
Defensively they will be without Jake Whitney who was in the class of 2022, but two of their key returning defensemen are senior Dylan Zahn and junior Liam Taylor the Bryant commit. They also welcome back senior captain LSM Luke Gorman the soon to be Pace Setter. In the net it will be junior Jaden Galfano who had a remarkable 212 saves as a sophomore. Also on the roster to makeup their goalie depth is senior captain Jon Gordon and sophomore Cheeto Price. As a freshman last year Price in a small sample size notched 18 saves. The Wildcats averaged 7.2 goals allowed last season.
According to coach Taylor, one of their young guns who could potentially see playing time this season is sophomore attackman Andrew Cimino.
To get the regular season going the Wildcats will take on Harborfields on March 29th. The schedule this season will have them battling it out with other Class C powerhouses like Bayport (4/26) and Mt. Sinai (5/2) which will likely be important games as they fight for the top overall seed in the standings.
