Oak Park and River Forest High School Class of 2016 graduate Connor Lamb was a star player for the Huskies’ boys lacrosse team. Now he’s in his debut season as head coach for OPRF’s East Avenue neighbor, Fenwick High School.
“It’s been going good so far,” said Lamb, who served as the Friars’ junior-varsity head coach the previous three seasons before replacing Daniel Applebaum as varsity head coach this year. “Being a young coach, I think that’s why it’s been working well.”
It helps that Lamb has an experienced roster which includes 13 seniors. The players say his familiarity with them has been an asset in this transitional season.
“We love coach,” said Fenwick senior attacker and co-captain Sam Guercio, who is committed to Marist University. “We like the culture he’s bringing. It’s new, but it’s definitely the start of something special.”
Fenwick has a 7-7 record entering this week. The Friars ended a four-game losing streak on May 1 with a 16-7 victory at IC Catholic Prep, and senior co-captain and attacker Jack Hardy felt it was much-needed.
“We’ve had our ups and downs,” he said. “We came out to a decent start [this season], but we had a tough run after spring break. We knew we were better than that. We had a huge [Chicago Catholic League White] win [against IC] and hopefully we can string some wins together.”
While Sam Guercio guides the offense, his twin brother AJ is the leader of the defense.
“We’ve been playing together for a while,” AJ Guercio said. “I know his moves and he knows what I like to do so it helps with chemistry and moving the ball around.”
Lamb likes the leadership his captains — the Guercios, Hardy, and Dylan Keith — have shown this season. He believes the added responsibilities he’s given them has sharpened their skills.
“We ask a lot out of them,” he said. “Some days, we’ll make the captains come up with the practice plan just so they can feel they’re involved and have ownership in this team. When you put responsibility on them, it makes them perform at a higher standard.”
With the state tournament coming up in a few weeks, Fenwick wants to finish as strong as possible in order to get a good sectional seed. Getting it won’t be easy as there are several tough games remaining in the regular season, but it’s a challenge the Friars say they’re looking forward to.
“Our goal is to win out,” Lamb said.
One of those games down the stretch will take place at Triton College on May 16 as Fenwick welcomes OPRF. Lamb played under Dan Ganschow, who started his second tour of duty as the Huskies’ coach this season.
Lamb said Fenwick is going to make the game a special event. He said the school’s bagpipes band will lead the Friars to the field, pregame. The student section will have a “White-Out” theme for the evening, and Lamb hopes the pep band and cheerleaders will attend as well.
“It’s about our 13 seniors. We want to do this for them,” he said. “It’s going to be a lot of fun playing OPRF. I’m super-excited for it and I know the guys are too.”
