TAMPA, Fla. — The Wesley Chapel High School boy's lacrosse team has its very own superstar — junior Anthony Iserino.
He’s been playing lacrosse since he was a young boy in Long Island, and his passion for the sport only grew as he got older.
“Yeah, I use to live in Long Island. I started playing my sixth-grade year and then I moved down here my freshman year," Iserino said.
He’s a force to be reckoned with on the field, and his opponents know it.
He is the top scorer not only in the state but in the nation, closing out his junior year with 98 goals this season and a total of 126 points.
Iserino spent countless hours practicing his shots and perfecting his technique, and it’s showing in his performance on the field.
“It all kind of started over the summer when I started playing travel ball and kind of branched out of just playing high school ball and started playing with better teams and stuff, so my skills so I obviously advanced,” he said.
The hard work sure did pay off.
Head coach Frankie McDermond knows that he has a true gift on his team.
It’s his second year coaching the team. The Wildcats held a 12-6 record heading into districts, and while he’s coached many talented players over the years, he said Iserino has something special.
“Anthony brings leadership and a quality that you just can’t coach to a degree," McDermond said, "and I mean that in the best way that you let him go free on the field and players feed off it, they read off him. Yes, he may be leading that state and nation in goals but yet he also has assists so when teams play too aggressive on him, it leaves someone open that benefits from it.”
Despite his incredible success, Iserino remains humble, staying focused on his goals.
He knows that his skills can take him far, and he’s determined to play college lacrosse one day.
“It is something that I’ve looked at, I definitely do want to play in college, but professional is still up in the air right now because it’s still growing as a sport. But I definitely do want to play in college.”
As the season comes to a close, he reflects on all that he has accomplished.
With one more year left in a Wildcats uniform, he’s committed to improving his game, with hopes of earning a scholarship to one of the top college lacrosse programs in the country.
He said that after high school he would love to go back up North.
He joked about missing the snow, and said if the opportunity presented itself, he’d have the best of both worlds.
Lacrosse is still a growing sport but he said he would be happy playing it anywhere that’s the right fit.
There are many opportunities for athletes like Iserino to continue on this lacrosse dream if he continues to put up the numbers he’s been putting up since moving to Florida his freshman year.