New England Lacrosse Journal‘s Chasing The Goal

Overcoming personal tragedy, Chris Piatelli has climbed the ranks of lacrosse to become the assistant coach at RPI. He is also a scouting coordinator for the Atlas Lacrosse Club of the Premier Lacrosse League (PLL). Coach Piatelli’s philosophy? “Let the boys play!”

Going into his 35th season as head coach at Southern New Hampshire University’s men’s lacrosse team, Paul Calkins is the longest-tenured head coach at the Division II level. Coach Calkins joins us via Zoom to talk about his experience, the SNHU facilities, and what keeps him there.

We're joined by the head coach of Roger Williams, Kevin Gould. Coach Gould started his career at Bryant University, and was an assistant coach for ten years before taking the head coaching job at Roger Williams.

2022 marks Matt Schairer’s sixth season as head coach of the Dean College Bulldogs Men’s Lacrosse team. He has seen great success already, leading Dead to its first NECC championship in 2018. Schairer was named the NECC Coach of the Year. In this podcast, he joins us to talk about his philosophy of teaching the game and helping students mature at the same time.

PLL Whipsnakes face-off man Joe Nardella is one of the best draw men in the world. A true face-off athlete, he's well known for his ability to play offense and defense after the draw. Going into his fourth season in the PLL, Nardella joins us to talk about his philosophy of lacrosse.

Mike Fraioli is the head coach of the Moses Brown Men’s Lacrosse Team in Rhode Island. Moses Brown is known as one of the top lacrosse programs in the state, finishing second this past season. Coach Fraioli joins us to talk about his experience as both a player and a coach, and how he’s already looking forward to next season.

Coach Todd Zahurak joins us via Zoom to discuss how his Division 2 team, Westwood High School, is coping with realignment and the constant changes that come with high school lacrosse. He also shares his thoughts on offense and defense. Hint: he’s not a fan of zone defense.

Joining the podcast is Suffield (Conn.) Academy Varsity Men's Coach Kevin Warnock. Coach Warnock talks about the challenges of rebuilding a former prep power program and his exciting role in the PLL.

Brian Vona joins us for the second part of his discussion on his life as the coach of the Italian national lacrosse team and at Lincoln-Sudbury (Mass.) High School. In this segment, Coach Vona  makes an eloquent case for building friendships through sport, rather than just focusing on wins. It’s that approach that has helped make his teams so successful. 

We're joined this week by Brian Vona, who coaches the Italian national lacrosse team and at Lincoln-Sudbury (Mass.) High School. In this first of a two-part interview, Vona talks about his coaching philosophy and how he came to coach in Italy.