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It was another successful season for one of the most consistent programs in the tristate area in 2015.

Mountain Lakes advanced to the New Jersey Group 1 championship where the Lakers fell to Rumson-Fair Haven 9-8.

For a look at the 2016 Lakers, we turn to John Natoli

The Class of 2017 attackman, who has committed to Lafayette, is a quick, elusive and shifty attackman with strong stick skills.

playerperspectiveNow, here are John’s perspectives on the season.

What have you been doing to get ready for the season?
Our team plays together in a winter indoor lacrosse league where we compete against other local high school teams. We work out as a team three days a week after school.

On the days that we aren’t in the weight room, we are doing sprints and agility drills.

I personally spend a lot of time working on my shot and my stick skills.  In addition, I do a lot of footwork drills and work on maintaining and improving my quickness.

How does your schedule look, what games are you looking forward to most, and who are some of your scrimmages against?
Every year our schedule is packed with other top rated teams and this year is no different. We start out with scrimmages against solid NJ teams like last year’s state champion Bridgewater-Raritan as well as Summit.  We also have a game-scrimmage against Ridge.

Our first game of the season is against Cherry Creek from Colorado, which will be a very exciting game.  We are also looking forward to our rivalry game against Delbarton.  These will be good tests for our team this year and we are definitely up to the challenge.

What players on your team do you think will surprise some people this season?
We have a lot of talent and depth on our team in each grade so I think it would be difficult to point any one player out as a surprise. Everyone works hard to compete and contribute to the team’s success.

What do you think the strength of your team will be this year?
We have a lot of returning seniors who were starters last year. Our senior class is stacked with talent and has a lot of players who are heading off to play in college next year.  We should do well possessing the ball with our top rated Face-Off man and we have some great offensive players who can put the ball in the back of the net.  Our defense brings back some experience this year and will definitely be a strong unit.

How do you view the race in your league and who do you think some of the contending teams will be?
The Gibbs Division that we play in is always very competitive. Our tough battles in the division are usually against Bergen Catholic and Ridgewood.  We hope to compete for the division title and move onto good success in the County Tournament as well as the Tournament of Champions.

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* Preseason player perspective archive

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LaxLessons’ Fall 2015 Signing Week coverage

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Tristate Division I Class of 2015 commitments by college

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* Recruiting commitment story archive

2015 National Letter Of Intent Fall Signing Week story/photo archive

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Posted In: New Jersey lacrosse, Player's perspective

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