Season of growth provides hope for Chartiers Valley boys lacrosse

By: Ted Sarneso
Sunday, June 22, 2025 | 11:01 AM

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After the Chartiers Valley boys lacrosse team lost in the 2021 WPIAL Class 2A championship game to Mars, coach Dom Tolomeo knew his program was about to enter some tough times.

“We lost 14 of 17 players, most of them seniors, and we knew we were in for quite a rebuild over the next few years,” Tolomeo said.

In the next three years, the Colts didn’t come close to sniffing the postseason, finishing no higher than eighth in Section 2-2A.

After finishing 5-8 overall and 3-7 in section play last season, the Colts were starting to trend in the right direction, but there were still some parts to their game that needed ironing out.

This year, the team finished with an overall record of 7-11, ended up tied for fifth in the section with a 6-5 record and made the playoffs.

“Definitely a great year, great to see the growth from our guys and just how they played this season,” said Tolomeo.

The biggest difference for the Colts from last year to this was their ability to play a smarter and more disciplined game.

As is typical in high school, a lot of athletes play multiple sports because they love the game, they’re looking to develop other physical skills or because they want to remain in shape.

For the Colts, out of the 28 boys on the roster, eight also play for the school’s hockey team. To Tolomeo, that was a blessing and a curse.

“To have kids that play together and hang out together year-round as just a good group of friends definitely helps on the field,” said Tolomeo. “You love to have a hockey players. They bring that tenacity and that edge that you’re looking for sometimes, but last year, it cost us.”

Tolomeo says his team flirted with the line between what constituted a legal hit and what was a foul.

“We had some trouble differentiating what was hockey from what was lacrosse,” said Tolomeo. “That put us in some bad positions.”

This year, the team made huge strides, including a noticeable difference in their play that also cut down on the number of penalties they were taking.

“The players were able to pretty much cut out penalties from our game, and they became more focused, more knowledgeable in the game of lacrosse,” Tolomeo said.

That increased knowledge of the game really showed through in the results.

Last year, the Colts had four regular season losses by double digits. This year, they only had two double-digit losses and all their other losses were by five goals or less.

Tolomeo brought up his team’s game last year with Penn-Trafford in comparison to this year.

“I think we lost to Penn-Trafford by 15 last year. We should have won the game this year, but we gave up a goal in the last few seconds in a 10-9 loss,” he said. “Our guys realized they can play in this division and can compete for a WPIAL championship. The belief was step No. 1, and once they started to believe, it was just putting in the time, the work and executing when it mattered.”

The Colts were led offensively by junior attack Darien Strosnider, who hit 100 career goals this season. Joining Strosnider on the attack were sophomores Braylen Bogats and Hayden Marshall.

“Braylen has been a starter in his first two seasons, and I’m really looking forward to him turning the corner next year,” said Tolomeo. “Hayden did a lot of transitioning between midfield and attack, and we’re expecting big things from him moving forward.”

The offense generated 7.5 goals a game, but it was the defense’s modest 7.8 goals allowed per game that kept the Colts in a lot of contests. That was due in large part to first-year sophomore goaltender Nick Dinger.

“I coached him in our youth program,” said Tolomeo. “He left the school district and came back this year. We didn’t have a goalie, and I asked the kids who wanted to give it a try, and he was the first to speak up. He was, in my opinion, one of, if not the best, goaltender in the WPIAL.”

Playing in front of Dinger were a pair of junior hockey players in Joey DeAngelis and Gavin Waldron, as well as sophomore football player Joel Burkle.

“Joey and Gavin were huge playmakers for us and really set the tone for us,” said Tolomeo. “This was Joel’s second year with us, and we look forward to him starting for us next year.”

Both offense and defense had probably their best game of the season in the Colts’ WPIAL Class 2A first round playoff win over fifth-seeded Sewickley Academy. They upset the Panthers, 7-4.

“We believed heading into that matchup that we were the better team,” said Tolomeo. “We had a couple of close games this year against a lot of great teams, and we just let a few slip away from us. But we knew that if we played a full four quarters, we would find ourselves where we wanted to be at the end of the game.”

The win set up Chartiers Valley with a rematch against Peters Township. The Colts lost a close 8-4 contest just three weeks prior and were feeling good heading in.

“When you play a team like Peters, you get to see a game being played at the higher levels and the way it’s supposed to be played,” said Tolomeo.

The Colts did all they could but fell 12-2. Despite the way their season came to an end, Tolomeo is proud of the season his team had and the fight they showed all year.

“We finally thought we were back in contention, and we found ourselves in a decent spot here at the end of the season,” said Tolomeo. “Not quite the finish we were hoping for, but still a good season overall. We took a lot away from this year and look to apply it next year.”

The Colts are only losing three seniors from this year’s team and return a large group of juniors who are the last group to have seen a deep WPIAL run.

“A lot of those juniors were young when they watched us make it to that 2021 WPIAL title game,” Tolomeo said. “They have some similar qualities to the senior class I had back then. This year sparked a lot for us. We took our lumps the last few years, and we feel we’re back to competing against everyone we face.”

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