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08/12/2016 12:00 AMNorth Branford boys’ lacrosse coach Dave Carpenter named Nico Sommo the first junior captain in the history of the program this spring. Nico responded with an excellent season that culminated with him being chosen for the All-State squad.
“To be selected All-State was a good honor to me,” says Nico. “To know you’re one of the best players in the state, that’s an honor. Being selected All-State draws some attention to me and helps give me confidence.”
Nico felt some major expectations on his shoulders after being picked to captain North Branford as a junior. However, he lived up to that billing by developing into a great leader both on and off the field.
“I was a big part of the team and I was really excited to be a captain with the seniors. It was just a great experience,” Nico says. “I’m more of a quiet kid, but I knew I wanted to lead the team, which brought me out of my shell a little bit. Being a captain showed me I had to talk and I was more vocal as a result.”
Coach Carpenter was confident that Nico would be up for the challenge of leading the T-Birds because of the impact that Nico makes on the field for his squad. A lot of North Branford’s players come from the hockey team, but Nico’s top sport is lacrosse, and Carpenter says he puts in a lot of work to improve his game throughout the year.
“He’s my first pure lacrosse player. He has the best stick skills on the team for a reason. He’s out there working harder than everyone else,” says Carpenter. “Passing, catching—he is very good both right- and left-handed. As a midfielder, he always has the opposing team’s long-stick on him because they know he’s our best player. It may not show in the box score because I burn him out on face-offs, but he draws a lot of attention. Passing, catching, shooting—everything is top-notch.”
Nico took 430 draws in the face-off dot this season, which was the second-highest total in the state. Nico won 250 of those face-offs for a 58.1-percent success rate.
“I used to wrestle when I was younger, so my mom wanted me to face off. My coach had me try it and it came naturally, staying low and fighting for the ball. Now, it’s my favorite part of the game. I love facing off,” says Nico. “I did a lot of face-off camps when I started doing it and I just do drills over and over to make my hands faster. I love it because, when you win possession, you have the ball more, so it helps the team in the end.”
Nico also scored 29 points this year by netting 22 goals and handing out seven assists for North Branford. He additionally picked up 111 ground balls on the campaign.
“A lot of times, I’ll have the long-pole on me. If the pole is good, I’ll take it as more of an assist game and get other guys open,” says Nico, who’s also a running back for North Branford’s football team. “But I’m not afraid to dodge on him. I can create space with my speed it always helps that I can get open away from the ball with my quickness.”
North Branford won 13 games, including one in the Class S State Tournament, in its second varsity season this spring. Nico feels pleased that the program is ahead of schedule and plans to keep working hard to help the Thunderbirds continue climbing the ladder.
“I work all year. I’m always playing fall leagues, winter leagues, so I work a lot on my game,” he says. “Our first season as a varsity team was rough. We were playing JV or club teams before that, so it was a hard transition. Once we knew what we had to do and got a better feel for who we were playing at varsity, we all worked hard in the offseason and the results showed.”