The 2014-15 boys’ lacrosse team has entered a new coaching era. Desi Gonzalez, formerly the head coach at Emmaus High School, was named the new head coach of the Southern Lehigh boys’ lacrosse team. Gonzalez says it’s an honor to coach here and he is excited about the upcoming season.

“Going into the season, I didn’t really know what to expect, coming from Emmaus, where we won back-to-back district titles, to Southern Lehigh, which is a lot smaller of a school than Emmaus,” Gonzalez said. “After getting to know the guys and talent that is here, we can go farther than the program has in the past.”

Gonzalez is familiar with Southern Lehigh. He was an assistant coach here back in 2006. While at Emmaus, the Spartans would always face the Hornets early on in the season.

“At Emmaus we played [Southern Lehigh] early and we always seemed to have an advantage on them,” Gonzalez said. “But it caught me by surprise by the talent that is here.”

Gonzalez is very confident in saying that this Spartans team will make the playoffs.

“Everybody is buying into being one team instead of being individuals, which was the feel I got when I first arrived,” Gonzalez said.

As a first year coach, Gonzalez stresses to the team that they must trust the system. He said a lot of things that the team was used to doing are now changed. If they buy in, this team will go far, which the players want.

“Hopefully he brings a new attitude to the team,” senior Teagan Buhosky said.

Last season, there were a total of 12 seniors. This season, there are only four seniors including Buhosky, George Allan, Noah Sargent, and Ralphie Shields.

“We have a lot of juniors that are leaders already, so we won’t have a lack of leadership,” Shields said. “We have gotten along in the past, so I don’t see the leadership being a problem.”

The players feel that the large number of seniors lost to graduation left a lot of shoes to fill.

“There were a big majority of seniors that were a big component of our team last season but I’m sure the younger kids will step up and fill the positions where needed,” junior Wyatt Noone said.

Like any sports team, a goal is to win the district championship. Southern Lehigh is a part of an independent league due to the limited number of schools in the Lehigh Valley that have boys’ lacrosse teams. They know it will be tougher to win a district championship, playing schools that they might have never even heard of before, but they are confident that they can achieve their goal.

“We are definitely going to districts,” junior Ben Johnston said. “There are many good teams in this district but, we will be able to hold our own.”

Johnston is the younger brother of Collin Johnston, one of last year’s seniors who graduated in June.