Could Glen Ridge Be 'The Team'
With SHP Forgoing 2026 ECT

There will be a different champion in the Essex County Lacrosse Tournament this spring since the 12-time defending champion Seton Hall Prep will not be participating in the event electing instead to focus on other in-season events such as the Golden Domer Spring Classic 2026, April 10-12, at the University of Notre Dame’s Arlotta Stadium.

The Pirates, who entered this season as New Jersey’s No. 1 team after winning the Non-Public A state championship last June, will meet Loyola High School of California 10.p.m. Friday (April 10) followed at noon on Saturday (April 11) vs. Western Reserve Academy of Ohio.

SHP lost its first two games this season, 7-6, to national power Chaminade (N.Y.), March 28, at Brendan P. Tevlin Memorial Field in West Orange, and then dropping an 11-10 nail-biter at 2-time defending Group 4 champion Westfield on March 31.

One team which could emerge as a prime candidate to be a favorite in a new-look 2026 ECT might be defending Group 1 state champion Glen Ridge which under the guidance of second-year head coach Anthony Sicoli excelled in the 2025 state tournament upsetting Rumson-Fair Haven, 9-8, in overtime, before winning 7-4 at Caldwell in the South Group 1 state sectional final and capping its magnificent run with a thrilling 8-7 overtime win against perennial championship contender Mountain Lakes in the overall Group 1 state final.

The Ridgers began the current season with a 13-6 loss at powerful Delbarton on March 18, but then reeled off four straight wins. The longtime Group 1 power has a strong senior class led by senior midfielders Jimmy Benson and JP Labadia, attackmen Stephen Grober and Carson Ross and defensemen John Leone and Tristan Wilson. Sophomore Tyler Kamil is another key defenseman to watch for a very strong unit in front of veteran junior goalie Keiler Goodwin.

Meanwhile SHP will continue to make an impact on a statewide level with many North Jersey lacrosse fans pointing to the annual regular season clash with Delbarton which this season will be noon, Saturday, April 18, at Tevlin Field.

Second-year head coach John Svec spoke last year about the different type of schedule he prepares his team for vs. the collegiate slate he had worked under in his previous stop at Brown University.          

“The big difference to me in going from coaching in college to high school here is the compacted schedule and very brief (8-day) pre-season in order to prepare when we had three weeks or a month in college to get ready for the first game,” said. “But, those are just the facts of life we are ready to work with here in our lacrosse program.”

SHP has its usual bevy of college commits – 18 to be exact among the current senior and junior classes - including key seniors such as attackmen Owen Dunleavy (University of Maryland Baltimore County) and Quinlan Oakes (Stevens), midfielders Alex Ante (Stony Brook) and Lucas Angel (Fairfield University) and defenseman Sean Hayes (High Point University) along with juniors led by midfielder Jack Merklinger (Georgetown) and defenseman Jagger Zemachson (Duke).  

SHP had entered the season ranked No. 13 in the nation by USA Lacrosse and even with its early, narrow setbacks to schools as Chaminade, which had been ranked No. 2 in the country by Inside Lacrosse, and Westfield, which is always handful, the 2026 season promises to be another one where the Pirates will be a big handful for anyone they meet.

Among the other boys lacrosse teams to watch around Essex County this spring are the aforementioned Caldwell Chiefs with senior attackmen Jordan Gruzas and Riley Danilowicz, junior midfielder Jeremy Rodriguez, sophomore attackman Ryder Weintraub and senior goalie Jacob Natt; Montclair with seniors such as attackman Dylan Fowler, midfielder Quinn Pevidi, long-stick middie Adam Schmitt and goalie Cooper O’Brien (Denison); West Essex with seniors Teddy Shopak (defenseman) and Michael Corbo (attack), Livingston with senior midddie Reid Snow (Hobart), Millburn with senior attackman Oliver Becker and Montclair Kimberley Academy with senior middie Thomas Meeker (Williams) and attackman Charlie Wolff (Oberlin).

NOTES- Svec comes out of the lacrosse hotbed of Maryland where he played his high school ball for Broadneck High School in Annapolis before embarking on his college career at Loyola where he played on a NCAA Tournament national semifinal team in 1998….He was an assistant coach and defensive coordinator at Brown from 2018-2024, including being part of a staff that guided the Providence, RI team to an Ivy League title and No. 5 national ranking in 2022…Svec also the head coach at Siena from 2011-2018 and was an assistant at Hobart (2008-2011) and Albany (2001-2008) where he met his wife Lindsay, a former captain of the Canadian National team who was the women’s head coach at the time…Glen Ridge’s Sicoli played attack at Kinnelon High School before embarking on a college lacrosse career as a long-stick midfielder at Rutgers.