Cardinal Points

Issue date: 4/27/07 Section: Sports

Media Credit: Andrei Popovici Vlad Norchi and the Cardinals are working toward a playoff spot this weekend.

This year in college sports, it has not been a rare sight for incoming freshman to have an impact on the game.

That trend made its way to Plattsburgh State as well, where freshman lacrosse player Kyle Norchi has been lighting it up on the field.

The attackman out of Hauppauge High School has already tied the record for points in a season with 51 (33 goals, 18 assists), making him the team's leading scorer.

His attackmen teammates, junior Frank Sangiovanni and freshman Luke Weidlein, are both on pace for records. Sangiovanni has broken the record for goals in a season and Weidlein is six points away from the highest total on the team last year, which was Jon Kane with 43 points.

But Norchi already put his name in the history books on March 15 during Spring Break play when his eight points - five goals, three assists - against the University of New England helped contribute to the 29 goals the Cardinals scored, tieing the Plattsburgh State record for points in a game.

Four days later, the freshman was named the season's first SUNYAC men's lacrosse player of the week, but this would not be his last award of the year.

Later that week, Norchi became the first PSUC men's lacrosse player in history to be named the Division III upstate player of the week by the ECAC conference.

He was not done there.

Later in the season the freshman was once again named SUNYAC and ECAC men's lacrosse co-player of the week.

Norchi's coach, P.J. Kavanagh, said he knows his starting freshman attackman understands he can't do everything alone.

"He's a gifted, fiery competitor on the field, but very humble off the field and understands that his success is in part due to the hard work of his teammates," Kavanagh said.

The freshman, along with his other teammates, has helped the Cardinals to an overall 9-4 record and a 2-2 record in SUNYAC-conference play.

In PSUC's game against Brockport April 22, Norchi kept the Brockport goalie on his toes, shooting at the net eight times.

It's hard to imagine a freshman would have such a big impact so early in his career, but Kavanagh said he knew what type of player he was getting.

"The outgoing head coach (Scott Demonte) did the primary recruitment of Kyle during high school," Kavanagh said. "We weren't sure if that meant a starting role or contributing as a freshman and earn (move) along, but he knew we had something special in Kyle as a player.

"For my part, during the fall, Kyle was very impressive during the early season non-traditional practices. (He) actually started our first non-traditional contest in the fall, (and) hasn't let go of that starting spot since."

With Norchi in that starting spot it seems as though the Cardinals will be able to compete with any team in the conference and continue its success through the young talent pool they have on the team.

Norchi and the Cards will play the last game of the regular season at 1 p.m. Saturday in Geneseo.

The SUNYAC tournament begins Wednesday, May 2.

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