New coaches are in place at all three Greater Pittston high school lacrosse teams and they will have many new players with which to work.
Wyoming Area girls lacrosse
Ira Staff, the head coach at Lakeland last season, takes over the Lady Warriors.
In addition to his time at Lakeland, Staff has experience as a youth and travel coach and as a varsity assistant and junior high coach in volleyball.
The Lady Warriors return senior midfielder Braiden Llewellyn, senior defender/midfielder Jenna Ragantesi, senior attack/midfielder Addison Byers, senior attack Brennan Slocum, junior midfielder Alana Zdaniewicz, junior attack/midfielder Brianna Harry, sophomore defender Julianna Siani and sophomore attack Claudia Rehill.
“We’re trying to coach with a positive mindset,” Staff said. “We do have a young team, since we play 12 at a time. We have 17 players, but only have of them have played before.
“We’re just trying to build skills for the new players and take small steps.”
Wyoming Area made the District 2 Class 2A playoffs last season. The Lady Warriors were 8-5 in the Wyoming Valley Conference and 8-6 overall.
Pittston Area girls lacrosse
After nine years assisting Carl DeLuca at Wyoming Area, Robbie Switzer moves to Pittston Area as the new head coach.
Switzer started the Valley Laxerz club team that helped lead to the creation of the Wyoming Area varsity boys and girls programs and feed those rosters.
The Lady Patriots went 1-13 last season, 1-12 in the WVC, and do not have a single returning starter from that team.
Senior captain Jules Menendez was positioned to be the team’s only returning starter, but she suffered a season-ending knee injury in the preseason. She has moved over to helping the coaching staff prepare the team.
Juniors Cami Karp, a midfielder, and Grace Wolfe, a defender, are the other captains. Switzer said midfielder Cierra Serino and Karlie Podwika will also be part of the team’s leadership.
The coach expects freshmen attacks Milania Widdick, Maddie Lis and Addyson Kelly “to contribute on offense.”
Brooke Albertelli, a junior in her first year on the team, has taken over at goalie.
Wyoming Area boys lacrosse
Tim Little moves into his first varsity coaching assignment after years of coaching basketball, baseball and soccer on the recreational level and coaching fifth- through seventh-graders in the Laxerz program.
The Warriors return starting long stick midfielder Gavin Feeney and also have face-off specialist Simon Pollard back from last year’s team that went 3-9 in the WVC and 3-11 overall.
Bruce Coolbaugh, Cayden Reynolds and Ricky Rowles have some experience and will form the attack while also spending some time at midfield.
“A lot of our guys are first-year players,” Little said. “A lot of the guys that we picked up for this year’s team are athletes. They are starters in other sports.
“ … They’re tough, coachable kids. What we’re trying to do is just build them together as a team, working together to get that foundation to grow this program into the type of program Wyoming Area is used to.”
Little will bring some concepts in from other sports.
“I have a different way of looking at things coming from a basketball background coaching,” Little said. “There’s a lot of work with movement and getting the guys to understand the flow of the game, being able to move and not just wait for opportunities, but to be able to create those opportunities.”
Pittston Area boys tennis
Pittston Area is shorthanded again this season after a limited roster contributed to a winless season in 2025.
The Patriots have had to play with as few as four players, but second-year coach Paul Farber recently celebrated his first coaching victory and expects to be able to fill six of the seven lineup spots soon.
Nick Jones, a junior in his third year as starter, is at number-one singles and Isaac Jones, a senior in his first year on the team, has settled into the second spot.
Junior Artur Biksey is a newcomer who can play third singles or doubles depending on the makeup of the lineup.
Juniors Colin Stilitino and Brandon Tyru are back in doubles, but Tyru is out for a while with an arm injury.
Joseph Perez, a senior who is also on the track and field team, has started practicing and is expected to begin playing some matches soon.
