With new coach, Lansing boys look to continue success

The Lansing High School boys soccer team has a reputation around town, Tompkins County and the entire state. The numerous sectional and state championships the team has brought back to Lansing are the pillars the reputation stands on.

New head coach Jake Fusilli knows about that reputation first hand. During his junior year at Immaculate Heart Central in Watertown, Lansing defeated the Cavalier team he played for during the regional finals.

Now, the Watertown native, who played at SUNY Brockport and graduated in 2020, finds himself on the sideline, trying to maintain that reputation.

“I know the soccer program has been very successful. I know what the program is about, seeing the state titles and sectional titles,” he said. “It seemed like a good fit, and I’m enjoying it so far.”

Fusilli replaces Benji Parkes, who coached the Bobcats since 2016. He won two state championships (2017 and 2018) during his time in Lansing and took the Bobcats to the Section IV Final last season (tinyurl.com/2oglvynq).

Lansing has not had a losing season since 1996, but it lost eight starters from last year’s team. Still, the expectations around the area are that Lansing will be competitive because of what Parkes and longtime coach Adam Heck did before.

There’s pressure, and Fusilli feels it. He also said he thrives in it.

“I definitely felt some pressure at first, just from the words of outside people telling me how successful [the program] is,” he said. “I also like a challenge, whether it’s taking over a successful program or trying to build one up.”

Those nerves lasted until Fusilli met the players and the team had its first practice. That was when he remembered — it was soccer. It was a sport he had played his entire life and one he had coached before for a club team in Watertown following graduating from Brockport.

“I went to my roots of what I know about soccer and the way I coach,” he said. “I know the success they’ve had, but I’m also a different coach. I’m going to be doing things a little differently.”

The season is still very young, but Fusilli said something that has helped is the reception he’s gotten from the players, who were put in a difficult situation with a young team and a new coach.

“I was a little bit worried about how they’d take that transition, but they’ve taken me in very well,” he said. “I’m showing them a lot of respect and showing them that I care, and I think that goes a long way with your athletes. They’re working their butts off for me, and I’m showing them I care. Obviously, we want to win, but I’m here to make sure they’re better people.”

Winning on the field looks more difficult this year on paper, considering the talent the Bobcats lost from last year’s team. Fusilli doesn’t necessarily see that through the first few practices.

He said there’s a strong group of role-players coming back from last year’s team that are ready to take the next step in their soccer journey.

“Just from watching them practice, I have a good senior class. They are taking leadership roles really well,” he said. “I think we’ll be strong in the middle. We have some strong flank players, we’re building up the back, and I think we’ll do a formation they haven’t done before.”

The middle of the field will be controlled by two seniors who have shown potential since the first practice last Monday.

“I’m expecting a lot out of the middle,” Fusilli said. “Brenden Dhameeth is a senior who has been showing me a lot in the middle with controlling [the ball]. I’m seeing a lot from Rowan Caldwell — he’s very good on the ball, very technical as well.”

Fusilli also mentioned that Alex Rahaman has shown that he can be a leader from the forward spot, as the senior was named a team captain.

The goalkeeper position had yet to be decided by last week, which was the first week of practice.

Junior Bode Petrich and sophomore Toby Rigdon will battle for the starting job, which Fusilli said can be a difficult position for younger players.

“It’s a lot to ask a sophomore or a junior to step up and take a leadership role out of the back, especially the way I want to play,” he said. “They need to be directing traffic, and so far, they’ve been playing well.”

The season begins tonight, Aug. 31, with a home game against Waverly. For the players who tasted disappointment at the end of last season, it’s a chance to get back on the field and get the bad taste out of their mouth.

The topic hasn’t come up much during practice, but it did during a practice last week. Fusilli said he told his players that it’s a new year and a new team, but he wasn’t going to take the season lightly because of the players the Bobcats’ lost last season.

“A lot of seniors just the other day were talking about [last year’s Section IV championship game] at the end of practice, and I told them that a lot of people are telling me it’s going to be a rebuilding year. I see the talent, I see what we can do, and I don’t want to short them,” he said “I’ve been working hard, they’ve been working hard, and they want to make another run.”

Lansing is making the jump from Class C to Class B this season, meaning it will face larger schools than normal if it wants to get back to the regional round. That doesn’t worry Fusilli, and he said it doesn’t worry his players. He said Lansing will be ready, the way it has for decades, to be in the running for a section title.

“We want to make a deep run at sectionals,” he said. “I think we have the fire and the fight. We should have a chance to get back.”

Send questions, comments and story ideas to editorial@VizellaMedia.com.