| It was one of those extraordinary seasons for the Red Raiders as they achieved an undefeated regular season, going 16-0 before entering the Class A tournament, seeded first. Their 5-0 league record placed them first in Monroe County D1.
After defeating the Greece Lightning, the Red Raiders beat Hilton before winning their seventh Class A Championship with a 16-10 victory over Penfield. In the New York State quarter finals, Fairport achieve another rare feat with a 7-0 shutout against Orchard Park. The season ended for Fairport with a 20-1 record after a loss to Ithaca in the semi finals.
Nearly everyone made the offensive scorebook, as twenty-three players had points. Six players had at least twenty-five points in 2012. Junior midfielder Pat VanBortle led the team in goals and points with 57g-19a (76 pts). Senior middie Brian Martin led in assists with 28g-27a. Senior Derek DeJoe had 31g-16a, sophomore Dan McAvoy had 17g-8a, senior Kyle Sterzin added 24g-20a and junior Jay Vakiener had 18g-18a. Most of the goalie time was taken by senior goalie Blaze Riorden who made 143 saves (69%) in 2012 and three years as the starting goalie made 413 saves and recorded 1,980 minutes in the nets for the Red Raiders. Out front, senior Keith Mierzwa and juniors Joe Arcarese and Marc Sweeney led the long sticks.
As league champions, Fairport had lots of awards at the end of the year. Named to the first team MC1 list were VanBortle, DeJoe, Martin, Mierzwa, and Riorden. Sterzin, Vakiener, Arcarese, Sweeney and face off middie Shane Stickle made the second team. Riorden was named Monroe County Player of the Year and Fairport Coach Mike Torrelli (Head Coach) and Eric Carlsen (Assistant Coach) were named Monroe County and USLacrosse Coaches of the Year. Blaze Riorden was also named SportsFive Defensive Player of the Year.
Named to the Class A All-Tournament team were DeJoe, Martin, Sweeney, freshman defenseman Allen Thibodeau and Riorden. Pat VanBortle was named the Most Valuable Player. Riorden, DeJoe and VanBortle were named to the D&C top 16 list. DeJoe and Riorden were selected at USLacrosse All-Americans and were named to the first team All-Section Five list. Martin, Mierzwa and VanBortle were named to the second team.
Planning to play on in college included defenseman Christopher Bechle (Binghamton), midfielder Andrew Brennan (Oswego), DeJoe (Syracuse), goalie Pete Gropp (Potsdam), Martin (Binghamton), Mierzwa (Clarkson), Riorden (Albany), Sterzin (RIT), Vakiener (Binghamton) and midfielder Kevin Vaughn (Mercyhurst). |