Rounding out the top five are Thomas, Canandaigua and Penfield. Thomas, who should dominate in Monroe County division 2, has three returning attackman who have been playing together for three years. Their midfield and defense have a good number of returning players.
  
Canandaigua is full of athletic players including Connor Henderson and Jeremy Brown who combined for 63 goals and 26 assists in the attack last year. Charlie Sauter and AJ Groot are back in the midfield and Ben Knapton is back in the defense. The Braves will also play with a new goalie this year with the graduation of Dan Serafine.
  
Penfield will expect a great deal from attackman Connor Rice, who may also see some time in the midfield this year and who scored 46 goals and 38 assists last year on a team loaded with offensive power. The Patriots have Paul Van Thof, Alex Nowak and Paul Leonhard in a very strong defense, but they will also have a new goalie this year with the graduation of Brian Dell.
  
There will also be a number of dramatically improved teams as we watch Churchville-Chili, Irondequoit and Rush-Henrietta in the early season.
  
In Class B, Geneva gets the top preseason ranking. The Panthers have quality players in all position starting with Kyle Boncaro and Greg Bonney in the attack and Andy Torruella and Tyler Travis in the defense. Senior Matt Schutz, who was named to the All-Tournament Team, is returning for another year in the net. The strength of the Panthers, however, is in the midfield where John Warner, Jim Warner, RJ Gringeri, William Rago, and Sean Bennett return. Gringeri and Bennett dominated last year’s Sectional final game in the face-off department (winning all but two of seventeen).
  
Victor also has a good number of returning players. Andy Savage and Frank Valenti are back in the attack. Alex Rogemoser, Eric Willman and Jason Houtenbrink return in the midfield. Mitchell Liegrot is back in the goal with Tim Gallahan and Aaron Parker in the close defense.
  
Although Brighton and Eastridge are not far off the mark, we are giving the third place, at this point, to McQuaid Jesuit, who returns 14 players including the leading scorer, Mitch Ritchie and midfielder Evan Gallina. Also returning are midfielders Dan Sturnick and Dan Odorcyzk. They both will bring strong offensive and defensive presences to the game.
  
With the mass exodus of teams moving up from Class C to Class B (HFL, Geneva and Aquinas), the small school tournament is left with eight teams rather than eleven.
  
At the top of the list is, of course, Penn Yan, who even with the loss of three All Americans, is still at the top of the list. Four years ago, Coach Brian Hobart brought up a bunch of freshman who ended up seeing a good mount of playing time. Among them were R.J. Wickham (Navy Prep) and Mike Manley (Duke), two of the top players in the Section. Many teams would be successful with just those two, but the Mustangs have much more in the cupboard including Matt Osgood and Brandon Trombley (St. Leo) in attack and Chris Carlson (Binghamton), Dan Wolfe (Mercyhurst NE), and Ryan Cook (Brockport) in the midfield.
  
Coach Hobart will need to find a couple of defensive long sticks, but otherwise Penn Yan will do well within the Finger Lakes as well as in non-league games against Orchard Park (Class A champions) and Amherst (Class B champions), Carthage from Syracuse as well as Class A powerhouses, Fairport and Schroeder.
  
The number two and three spot is harder to call as Waterloo and Livonia are quick similar. Both teams have some “star-talent”, both teams need to replace their key spots in defense as well as their goalie, and both teams lost significant players to graduation. We placed Waterloo slightly ahead at this point, based greatly on their experience.
  
Waterloo finished 8-0 in their division (FL-2) last year but lost twelve players to graduation. Returning are Josh Mateo who was named to the All-tournament team as well as to the 1st team All-Finger Lakes list. Nelson Boyd (attack), Justin Deal (midfield), Mike Ruiz (attack), and Kevin Wright (defense) also return.
  
Returning in the attack for Livonia this season are Brian Sciera (GRALL) and Tyler Russell. Sciera led the team in goals last year and Russell led the team in assists. In the midfield Adam Schaible (GRALL), Oren Taylor, and Gaelin Walsh are all returning to the Bulldog roster.
  
Defensively, the Bulldogs return Shane Ward and LSM Jeremy Hudak. Aaron Jamison who was a multi-year starting goalie before graduating last spring will be replaced by Justin Becker, a 6’0” 230 pound sophomore, who was the starting JV goalie last year and who according to Coach Sciera will “anchor the defense in the goal.”
  
Section Five grows to thirty-one teams with the addition of Batavia this year. The Blue Devils joins the Varsity ranks this year under the direction of Joe Hussar.
  
All thirty-one teams in Section Five have been previewed and have been grouped by league and division and are available from the links below.