Metro Detroit high school lacrosse notes: Playoff loss drives Dexter

The team has tallied a total of 182 points scored through 15 games compared to only 61 allowed, which has helped it sit in the top five in the Michigan Power Rankings (MPR).

The offense is just as striking to opponents, with a number of threats who have the ability to create a large lead in each matchup.

Senior midfielder and captain Benny Willard has been one of the x-factors on the attack, while junior Dawson Waddington and sophomore Jay Corcoran have also assisted in the strong offensive unit.

Mambro mentioned how Willard has been one of the primary voices on the offensive side for Dexter as a two-time all-state recipient while Corcoran has provided a young spark with over 50 points on the year as an underclassmen.

Alongside Willard as captains are Ryan Graydon, Cam Enyedy and Will Simpson**,** who Mambro spoke highly of their impact.

“The four of them collectively know their roles,” Mambro said. “When they speak, it matters to our group and it kind of gives us that calming presence and kind of helps me. When they’re on the field, they’re always communicating with the guys making sure we’re doing the right stuff.”

Bloomfield Hills girls adapting where needed

Head coach Christina Arens has her team at 11-7 as the season is closing, but the story of the year has been beyond the wins and losses.

Bloomfield Hills has been rather consistent throughout recent years, but this season brought a bit of a surprise with the amount of seniors that graduated from last year's team. Arens mentioned how the team has lost around 10 seniors in each of the last two years, which has played a big role in the season outlook.

“We’ve lost a lot of the upper-level leadership between the last couple years and now,” Arens said. “We have six seniors this year, so it’s a good size, but we have a lot of new faces that became starters this year, so I didn’t know exactly where the season was gonna go.”

The most glaring example of this roster turnover has been in the defense, which didn’t bring in a single returning face heading into the season. The reset forced players to be put into new positions, but Arens expressed how it has been a rather smoother transition than expected.

“The growth from the beginning of this season to now has been absolutely incredible,” Arens said. “They are a completely different defense between the beginning of the season and now, which is why I think we are peaking at the right moment. We’ve won a lot of great games over the last chunk.”

Junior Lyla Komorn was one of the returners on the team who was affected by the lack of defenders, switching to the defensive side. Three additional defensive players had to switch from the midfield to defense.

The transition is by no means easy, but Arens mentioned how the willingness of the team to adapt to what’s needed has been one of its defining traits.

“They were willing to play wherever  and that’s kind of the mentality that I wanted and needed.” Arens said. “You can’t have someone playing a position that doesn’t want to be there. So they were willing to do what it took to help the team and they’ve really taken it on and have done amazing.”

The leadership of the captains has also helped the team succeed in an unpredictable season, with Solei Ewing, Molly Rubel and Brooke Sanders making up the trio. Ewing is coming off of a first-team all-state selection while Sanders is committed to Lawrence Tech as a goalie.

“They’re really some of the key components to what’s made our team run and be successful getting to the end of the year,” Arens said.

Deep roster leading the way for Walled Lake United

Walled Lake United is 13-2 in its second year since the merge of all three Walled Lake schools into one team, and it’d be hard to tell that this team hasn’t played all four years together.

Head coach Jason Lewis has led his team to the top 20 in the state in regards to MPR, and have already won the Lakes Valley league outright.The answer to the successful season could very well be the 15 returning seniors along with the same attack and defensive group from last year.

It was returning this defensive unit especially that Lewis raved over.

“Last year our defense was incredible,” Lewis said. “This year I will go down saying that I think we have one of the best defenses in the entire state, and they’ve played that way all season.”

The defense is highlighted by two college commits in Travis Ling (Grand Valley State) and Jordyn Janesak (Central Michigan). Both are players that lead the unit especially in communication.

“Those dudes together are so cohesive,” Lewis said. “They play so well together and communicate really well.”

Long-stick midfielder Chase Rybak has also been a standout for Walled Lake on the defensive end, who just recently scooped up his 400th career ground ball and is closing in on 100 career caused turnovers.

“(Chase) is just a vacuum,” Lewis said. “He’s a beast. He does everything for us. And with those four on the defensive end, the way that they talk and communicate with our man down is at a college level and they’re high school seniors.”

The attack side of the ball has also been just as dominant. Walled Lake has four players with over 20 goals on the year in Matt Minnich, Reid Widmer, Domenico Martell and Brody Burdine.

Minnich and Burdine each have over 30 goals on the year with 59 and 44 points, respectively, while Martell has been one of the vocal leaders on the field.

Lewis in specific emphasized how talented a player like Minnich is and how he has stepped up a level from years prior.

“He’s built like a Division 1 kid,” Lewis said. ”This year he's flipped the switch and went from being a primarily dodge and passer, to now he’s aggressive as heck. He’ll drop his shoulder, he’ll run through you and he’ll wrap around the goal and he’s scoring a ton of goals because of that.”

Doug Doty is a freelance writer.

This article originally appeared on The Detroit News: Metro Detroit high school lacrosse notes: Playoff loss drives Dexter