Familiar face leads Valley Stream

The Valley Stream District boys’ lacrosse program has a new, yet familiar face leading its varsity team this spring. Dan Kraemer, who previously served as the program’s JV coach, will be the man tasked with trying to get the Eagles back into the postseason.

Even though this is Kraemer’s first year as Valley Stream’s varsity head coach, he comes in with a strong knowledge of the team’s players, many of which he coached at the JV level.

“I know a lot of the kids, which has really been beneficial,” Kraemer said. “It’s been a pretty seamless transition for me.”

Valley Stream is 0-2, after falling to a pair of tough opponents, in MacArthur and Farmingdale. But Kraemer still believes his team will find a way to be competitive this season.

“I’m feeling pretty confident,” Kraemer said. “I think that if we have possession, then our offense can score some points. And I think it’s just going to take a little time for our defense to jell.”

The Eagles offense features three strong players up front in Rory Carey, Patrick Kearney and Rob Nardella. Carey is coming off a 17-goal season, and appears poised to be one of the team’s top offensive players in 2015.

“Rory is the engine that makes us go on offense,” Kraemer said. “He has real good hands and good vision. He really understands the game and is starting to take over as a leader.”

Midfielders Ollie St. Louis, Giovanni Coppola and Danny Demas will also all be looking to give the Eagles a scoring boost this spring. St. Louis features one of the team’s best shots, making him a difficult player for opposing teams to handle.

“He gives defensive midfielders fits with how he can shoot the ball,” Kraemer said. “We look to him to really get our offense going from the midfield.”

On the back end, Joe Kempton, Angelo Bellomo and Blake Benitez will be starting for the Eagles. Kraemer says that Kempton’s versatility has made him an extremely valuable piece for the club.

“He can start us in transition and also be a really solid shutdown defender,” he said.

Coming into training camp this season Valley Stream had a battle for its starting goalkeeper position. John Ruddick is the player who has emerged as the starter in net for the Eagles, and has impressed his head coach early on.

“Outside 12 yards he’s as good a stopper as I’ve been around at the varsity level,” Kraemer said. “And on the inside he really can make some plays that he has no business making. He has great hands.”

The early portion of the schedule has been challenging for Valley Stream, but Kraemer still believes that his team is capable of making a run this season.

“I think we should be able to beat the teams that are close to us in the rankings, and hopefully we can surprise some people in Nassau County, and knockoff a few of those teams that on paper we shouldn’t be able to beat,” he said.