Mike Sanguinetti battles for the ball with an opponent during a 12-6 loss at Allentown on April 15, 2015. (Staff photo by Samantha Sciarrotta.)
Mike Sanguinetti did not have to explore baseball first, discover it was too slow for his tastes and then switch to lacrosse.
His older brother AJ did all that for him.
“He started in baseball and didn’t like it and switched,” Sanguinetti said. “I always wanted to follow him and do what he did, so I just went straight to lacrosse and didn’t even deal with baseball. I followed in my brother’s footsteps.”
And he has continued to follow in them through high school. The older brother was a talented scorer for the Robbinsville High School lacrosse team before graduating in 2012. The younger came on board as a freshman the next year, and the Sanguinetti flow of goals has continued quite nicely.
AJ scored over 100 during his career, including 54 as a senior. Sanguinetti surpassed 100 career points in mid-April, and the junior was 11 short of 100 goals, as of April 15.
Ravens first-year coach Dave Serughetti, the team’s assistant the previous two years and a head coach at West Windsor-Plainsboro North before that, got to watch AJ from afar, remembering his talent “nose for goal.” Serughetti sees those qualities in Sanguinetti.
There are probably plenty of reminders if one looks hard enough, as Sanguinetti does not hide his admiration his brother, who now plays club lacrosse at Villanova.
“I used to go to his games when I was middle school,” Sanguinetti said. “He was like my role model. Every shot he took on goal was just amazing. I would try to re-create what he did in my backyard. I would just shoot around and pretend I was him. We had a little blue man you could stick on the net that was kind of like the goalie. The net was destroyed. My brother had a track record for ripping holes in it with his shots. It made me want to shoot like that.”
Sanguinetti began playing in second grade, and he recalls his initial experience as being “a little weird.”
“It’s not like other sports where you just pick up a ball like in basketball,” Sanguinetti said. “There’s lots of drills and stuff. But I started to pick it up real quick.”
He played in the Robbinsville Lacrosse Association for six years before joining the New Jersey Lacrosse Club last summer, which he said has improved his game. Playing against Division I recruits will do that to an athlete.
Sanguinetti made an instant impact as a Robbinsville freshman, collecting 20 goals and seven assists.
“He showed immediate talent as a freshman,” Serughetti said. “I knew AJ was a really good player just from seeing him at West Windsor. One of the other things you could see in him was his lacrosse IQ, and when I saw Mike as a freshman he had that same IQ and ability. He showed it right away. You could see the potential and promise from the beginning.”
Sanguinetti proved his coach’s instincts correct as he exploded for 47 goals and 21 assists last year. This year he had 20 goals and seven assists through the Ravens’ 3-4 start, despite receiving extra attention.
Serughetti said Robbinsville’s opposition often keep a defender locked just on Sanguinetti, allowing the rest of the defense to play as a whole.
“He handles that really well,” he said. “He knows what kind of options we have to counter that. He works really hard to recognize those things and create opportunities for his teammates. That’s helped him get more assists this year. He realizes he draws a lot of attention and that gives him the ability to move the ball and give other guys a chance to pick up the load.”
That didn’t happen by accident. Sanguinetti now has a “lacrosse wall” in his backyard, which enables him to practice both his passing and catching skills by throwing the ball against the wall. It mimics playing with another person, and it has made him a more effective passer.
And while his playmaking skills have improved, Sanguinetti is still a scorer first and foremost. He exhibits a great deal of patience while looking for the right shot, rather than just firing away and hoping it goes in. He also has an uncanny accuracy to his shot.
“A lot of guys have fast shots or hard shots, but they’re not always accurate,” Serughetti said. “He shows the ability to really to pick his spots. He’s also a very smart shooter. He doesn’t waste opportunities to score, he’ll always look for the best opportunity, not any opportunity. He does what we as coaches are constantly saying to guys. Don’t take the good shot, take the great shot. He has the ability to discern what a great shot will be.”
Sanguinetti thinks the key to his scoring is a combination of desire and instinct.
“I try to have that hunger and try to be perfect every time I get the ball,” he said. “I have a lot of good teammates helping me out. You try not to get hit when you’re going to the net, that’s the main goal. But for some reason defenders don’t like to follow that rule,” he added with a laugh.
It’s not like Sanguinetti can’t handle the physical play.
“He’s actually growing into his body, he’s not even done growing yet,” Serughetti said. “He’s a big kid, even though he’s known as a shooter, he’s not afraid to mix up. He’ll body up on a defender and he’s gotten more comfortable with his size.”
There is another reason that Sanguinetti is tough to get off his feet. He also followed AJ’s lead in another sport—surfing. Sanguinetti goes to Sea Isle City in South Jersey in the summer.
“It definitely helps with my balance,” he said. “It’s a skill you need to surf.”
Sanguinetti’s only regret so far is that on the family vacation to Hawaii a few years ago, only AJ was allowed to wax up the board for those challenging waves.
“I never got the chance,” he said. “I was still young, and my parents were afraid to let me go out there.”
Fortunately for the RHS lacrosse program, they didn’t have that same fear of letting him follow AJ’s lead.
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