Leps look to defend section title
By JEREMY SELLEW
jsellew@yourmvi.com
Entering his fourth season as head coach at Belle Vernon Area, Rob Miele and his team enter the season with a target on their backs.
Last season, the Leopards went 17-2, running the section gauntlet and coming out with an 11-1 record to claim the section championship before losing to Blackhawk in the WPIAL quarterfinals.
“We return essentially everybody. I think we have some leadership that has risen out of the offseason after gaining some great experience last year,” Miele said. “Now in the fourth year as a staff with the program, I really think we started seeing the results of our efforts last year, and we want to carry that into this upcoming season.”
The Leopards must replace the voids left by Niko Apodiakos and Maverick Selvoski. Not just in their on-field contributions, but their leadership off the field as well.
“I think those two were great leaders and a huge part of the season we had,” Miele said. “Those two led by example and were the vocal leaders. We were such a young team, the guys were heavily influenced by them.”
While those two are no longer there, leading goal-scorer Daniel Sassak returns for his junior season after a breakout sophomore campaign in which he scored 29 goals.
“His game has really evolved. Obviously, he’s still going to be a scoring threat,” Miele said. “Daniel has really worked on the parts of his game we talked about after last season. He’s become more of a complete player. His leadership in the offseason and this summer has been good. He’s worked on going to his right, his attacking moves and the defensive end of his game.”
The usual norm in high school athletics is seeing players take significant strides between their sophomore and junior seasons. Sassak is no different and it reminds Miele of someone else he’s coached.
“Not that this is an expectation for Daniel, but he reminds me a lot of Markello (Apodiakos) in how he’s grown and the strides he’s taken,” Miele said. “Markello came out and scored 40 goals in his junior year. That’s when he made his biggest jump.”
Last season, the defensive back was an area of concern for Miele. This year, he’s hoping it’s a strength.
Austin Martin, Tyler Mocello and Dimitri Apodiakos return. Sam Desai, who started the final few games on the back line, is making a push for the fourth spot on the line.
“I’d like to think that’s going to be a strength for us,” Miele said. “Austin is a three-year starter and Mocello is pretty much a three-year starter there. Dimitri kind of came out of nowhere last season. Sam has given us good minutes in the past there and is trying to take hold of that spot.”
In the midfield, Sassak will be joined by Nick Nagy, Hunter Meade, Logan Kolodychak, Daniel Gordon, Preston Hunt, Luke Kimmel, Dylan Timko and Dylan Rathway.
“I really like Nagy in that position with Daniel. They’ve worked really well together and you’d never know that Nagy took a year off,” Miele said. “There’s also the opportunity for them to slide up front for us.”
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