For years, Carmel had been like a hole in the middle of a donut. Surrounded by schools with established programs such as Mahopac, Brewster, Yorktown, Somers, Danbury and Ridgefield, Carmel remained the last lacrosse holdout.

Until now, that is.

The Rams will be fielding a varsity team for the first time this spring.

It’s been quite a progression. The sport made its debut at the school when it debuted as a modified program in 2008, as 70 boys tried out for that team.

Glenn Palmieri, who coached that modified team and the Rams’ JV team the last two seasons, is the head varsity coach.

Though this scenario is brand-new at Carmel, Palmieri has been down that road before.

“I played on the first team at Somers (back in 1996),” Palmieri said. “So I know what the kids are going through.”

Palmieri also has varsity coaching experience. He also was an assistant coach to Craig Solomon at Hen Hud.

In fact, the first game in Carmel varsity history, set for March 29, will be against Hen Hud.

The Carmel-Mahopac rivalry will come to lax for the first time on April 7, at Mahopac.

Palmieri will be assisted by Paul Brennan. Former Yorktown High School and Syracuse University star Matt Caione is the head coach of Carmel’s JV team.

“We have a very physical team that works hard,” Palmieri said. “They’re a very green group, but I feel we will surprise some people.”

Here’s a look at the Rams’ inaugural schedule:

Tue – 3/29/2011    4:30 PM         HENDRICK HUDSON
Thu – 3/31/2011    4:15 PM         @ KENNEDY CATHOLIC
Tue – 4/5/2011    4:30 PM         PEEKSKILL
Thu – 4/7/2011    4:30 PM         @ MAHOPAC HS
Sat – 4/9/2011    11:00 AM         @ WAPPINGERS
Thu – 4/14/2011    6:30 PM       NORTH SALEM
Tue – 4/26/2011    4:30 PM       WAPPINGERS
Thu – 4/28/2011    4:30 PM      @ PEEKSKILL
Sat – 4/30/2011    11:00 AM      @ HALDANE
Tue – 5/3/2011    4:30 PM         HALDANE
Thu – 5/5/2011    4:30 PM         KENNEDY CATHOLIC
Tue – 5/10/2011    4:30 PM       DANBURY
Thu – 5/12/2011    4:30 PM    @ ARLINGTON
Sat – 5/14/2011    4:00 PM     @ NORTH SALEM HS

Varsity schedules

* For schedules for teams from throughout the region, be sure to check out the “Schedules galore” thread, and scroll down to the comments portion for the most recently released schedules.

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41 Responses to “Varsity lacrosse to debut at Carmel this season”

  1. HV Lax says:

    Welcome to the show Carmel.

  2. Observer Lax says:

    Good luck to Coach Palmieri and Carmel! Nice move getting Matt Caione on board as JV coach.

  3. SUlax says:

    Hopefully the program grows over the next few years. The schedule is nice and light they should be able to compete against most teams on it.

    Except for Mahopac, they are going to bury them this year

  4. Maze Lax says:

    great article… good luck carmel rams

  5. P&G says:

    It’s a long slow road….Good athletes (with a football background) – CHECK.

    Good coaches at the HS level – CHECK.

    Need to develop a youth program – with LACROSSE coaches – and not football coaches. – TBD.

  6. slacrosse says:

    Welcome and good luck Carmel. As P&G said get that youth program developed.

    Sched looks good for a start. I think Arlington reached a bit too far last season in terms of difficulty of schedule for a new program.

  7. 12rock says:

    Welcome aboard and good luck to the folks at carmel …..
    Slacrosse —whats shak’in my brother

    • slacrosse says:

      Wait’n in the wings for Spring, what else?. Still gettin over that loss to you guys. How’s the Valley lookin? Know you have Christopher and a little Jimmy V de…..What da ya think about “C” this Spring? You guys have a real tough sched which should suit well when it comes time for the C playoff. As for Class B, will be a war zone out there!

  8. Observer Lax says:

    As Carmel’s program continues to grow I can see the Mahopac-Carmel game being like Town-LP in a few years.

  9. Pac Lax says:

    Good luck to Carmel and their new program this year and beyond.

  10. […] We told you last month about how Carmel, which has a long tradition of athletic success at the Class A and Class AA levels, will be make its varsity debut this spring. […]

  11. BearsLaxFan says:

    Carmel does have a youth program. They had a combo 3/4 team with Brewster that did ok and I think a combo 3/4 girls team with Mahopac that went undefeated this season. I think they also had a 5/6 or 7/8 boys and girls team. Dont know how they did. There was an article about it a while ago in the paper. The guy that started it is the girls 3/4 coach. I think his name is Bill. Anyway good luck with your program. Matt C is a great addition. I played with him in Yorktown years ago

  12. New Head Coach At BH says:

    Has anyone heard if there has been a new head coach hired for the Byram Hills boys opening yet?

  13. New Head Coach at BH says:

    Interesting choice I guess-if true, too bad that no young coach affilated with the long established programs like Yorktown or JJ threw their hat in the ring. Program has potential if run by the right person.

    Doesn’t Fritz coach the BH girls??

  14. ronny says:

    Timmy Weir is the Head Scardsdale coach and Brendan Curran is his assistant.

    • New Head Coach at BH says:

      roony, thats odd it says on the Renegade Lacrosse website that Brendan Curran is the head coach at North Salem, did he leave recently to take the Scarsdale assistant job?

      Odder still if that is true why would he take an assistant job at Scarsdale?

      Is there more than one Brendan Curran in Westchester County??

  15. upstate says:

    curran has been the coach at north salem. that would be great for him if he got the job at byram. no offense to north salem, but that school just can’t get it together for brendan. he works hard and doesn’t seem to get a lot of help over there.

  16. ?? says:

    Curran to Scarsdale with Weir – confirmed

  17. Inside says:

    Brian Dalton, Jim Donohue and Vin Savastano are the candidates for the Byram Hills Head Job.

  18. NCLax says:

    Either Dalton or Sav leaving Somers,(JFK) that would make things interesting.

  19. will s says:

    I here Sav’s are not leaving Kennedy. New Turf and a pretty darn good team coming back.

    Yorktown Freshman Garafano is incredible look out for him this year at JFK.

    Look for Kennedy to make the next step.

    Also heard twins from Hen Hud are at JFK

    Mahopac Middie soph is pretty nasty.

    JJ defensman is now over at JFK

    I new it wouldnt take long to see the Sav’s turn it around.

    • Next Coach @BH says:

      I can’t see the Sav’s leaving Kennedy for the BH job either. They have a good group of kids that are committed to lacrosse at Kennedy, tranfers coming in from strong programs. Hopefully BH picks Dalton or Donohue if they are the finalist.

    • P&G says:

      Best of luck to Kennedy going forward. Would be great to see them build a top notch program. If anyone can do it, they can.

      As a JJ guy, I know of no defenseman that has left JJ and enrolled at JFK.

  20. YU says:

    Brian Dalton is not leaving Somers. He and Coach Lew have been friends forever and have a real good thing working there.

  21. breaking news! says:

    Breaking news a new rule is in place for Somers HS athletes that if you are a Somers resident you can go to Kennedy Catholic and not sit out if you transfer. This applies to any grade and any sport.

  22. seriously says:

    I was unaware that there was a rule in place prohibiting players from transferring and playing right away. Seems odd as this is HS athletics and the kids cannot redshirt. Seems unethical. Are we sure this was a rule? It would be a first to me. I know kids transfer from Kennedy and play right away at HS’s in the section. I can think of a few right now that have done it recently.

    • yes rule says:

      If they leave a private school to go back to your district then they can play right away. The rule was established years ago when districts would let you pay to go to school in there district. Also some private HS can give scholarships so it was designed for those schools not to be able to give you a scholarship to start your 2nd semester for arguments sake and be able to play right away. so they made that rule to stop that. (heard it was designed for teh city schools football and basketball) your only not eligable if you transfer in after the school year. You have to be commited before the state deadline sometime in july i think. With taxes being outragous in this area u hardly ever see it any more.

  23. slacrosse says:

    P&G

    That Lambert can play some football too! His natural athletic ability showed itself in the Rye game. Have to do a better job if Rye gets another shot.

    • P&G says:

      Very gifted athlete. Rye football coming on, tough first round game – if they can figure out a way to get past that – they will be a tough out!

  24. ? says:

    I heard that the Pleasantville program is also looking for a new head coach? Anyone have any insight?

  25. will s says:

    where did Chris kear go? he was asst at pleasantville?

    what happened to the head coach?

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