The Lake Zurich Lacrosse Program (LZLC) will get a revamp this spring as new head coaches are brought to both the boys’ and girls’ Varsity teams.

Katie Fegan will be moving into the girls’ head coach position in place of former head coach Julie Bryniczka, and Chuck Vozas will be taking the place of Kyle Dresser as the boys’ head coach. Both coaches carry with them their own background and their own ideas.

Both Fegan and Vozas work outside the district, however they are as committed to the school as anyone and are looking to improve on their team’s performance from last season.

The ultimate goal being able to look back at the end of the season from a higher point than they ended on last year, both of the new coaches are excited to coach at Lake Zurich and eager to begin work with their teams.
Fegan

Currently working as both the girls’ varsity coach and an account manager at an insurance brokerage, Fegan’s career as a lacrosse player began at Oak Park and River Forest High School in Scoville, Illinois. That would be the last time Fegan played the sport herself. She attended Marquette University, where there was not yet a women’s lacrosse team. Upon graduating from Marquette, Fegan returned to the sport as a coach.

 Bringing with her seven years of coaching experience as the Junior Varsity coach at her high school alma mater, Fegan is eager to make improvements to the program and work up from last season’s 9-13 record.

“The number one goal we’ve set for the team is to improve last year’s record,” Fegan said. “We are going to work on the girls’ ability to institute plays and work on having a better understanding of the game.”

Fegan has also put together a new charity event for the program called ‘Play with Heart.’ The First Annual Play with Heart Game will be held on April 27and proceeds will go to the American Heart Association. The goal of the fundraiser is to raise awareness among young women about cardiovascular disease.

On top of making adjustments to the team and charity events, Fegan looks for the returning lettermen to step up and take on leadership of the team.

“We have a handful of girls returning to Varsity who are enthusiastic and ready to take on challenges,” Fegan said. “So far, I have seen great leadership and I hope to see that continue.”

Vozas

            Chuck Vozas is not a stranger to the program. Vozas has been working with LZLC for four years. Vozas worked as assistant freshmen coach in 2010, head freshme n coach in 2011, assistant varsity coach last year, and now he returns for the 2013 season as the head Varsity coach, filling the place of Kyle Dresser, former head coach.

            Vozas feels that Dresser’s absence leaves large shoes for him to fill, especially on the teams’ offensive game.

            “To replace someone like Coach Dresser is very hard to do.  His offensive knowledge and being able to teach the flow of an offense is going to be hard to make up for,” Vozas said.  “Luckily we have the best board of directors and volunteer parents who were able to secure us two wonderful coaches in Mike Sutton and Rick Valencia who are offensive oriented and will bring out the best in our offensive threats.”

            Along with the help of assistant coaches Sutton and Valencia, Vozas also looks for help from his seniors and returning Varsity players to take on leadership of the team.

            “[I’m looking for seniors] just to lead by example for the younger guys,” Vozas said. “We have a lot of talented players this season, but if they cannot come together and play as a team, we are going to find ourselves on the losing end of a lot of games.”

            On top of coming together on the field, Vozas breaks down the schedule and sets up the goals for the team which, according to him, are focused on each game and not as much into the long term.

“We have to break down our season weekly and take each game very seriously.  Every game could have playoff implications and one of the best things about high school lacrosse is that any team can beat another at any time of the season,” Vozas said. “I’m excited, especially for the juniors and seniors, as I was their coach when they were freshmen.  I feel like we are so close to getting this program to the next level by making it and possibly winning the B cup championship game.  Again, though, there are also many talented teams vying for the same goal.”