Daily Journal Boys’ Lacrosse Player of the Year: Menlo-Atherton’s Jeremy Koren

Menlo-Atherton boys’ lacrosse coach Steven Kryger was succinct in describing Jeremy Koren, the Daily Journal’s Boys’ Lacrosse Player of the Year.

“We don’t get to where we’re at without Jeremy Koren,” Kryger said.

That’s saying a lot, but when you dig down into it, he’s right. Koren, who was named an All-American ahead of his senior season, was also awarded the prestigious Bob Scott award, which is given to a player who exemplifies not only lacrosse skill, but academics and service.

On the field, the long-stick midfielder helped the Bears to one of the best seasons in program history. The Bears went 18-3 this season, finishing second behind Los Gatos in the Santa Clara Valley Athletic League’s De Anza Division.

Two of the Bears’ three losses came to Los Gatos during the regular season and they met for a third time in the Central Coast Section tournament quarterfinals, where M-A prevailed, 11-8.

“We finally beat them in the CCS playoffs. That was a pretty good feeling,” Koren said. “We had lost in double overtime the second time we played them. I think that lit a fire under us. … I played pretty well. My mentality was to go and just play my game. I didn’t need to be a superhero.”

None of the Bears’ success this season would have been possible if not for an early-season meeting between Koren and Kryger. Because Koren was only one of a handful of players with significant lacrosse experience, he found himself pushing his less experienced teammates too hard, mentally and physically.

But Kryger said he and Koren were on the same wavelength.

“I called him in and said, ‘Jeremy, I appreciate what you’re trying to do.’ And he immediately said, ‘I know. I’m kind of intimidating the guys,’” Kryger said. “On a dime, the next day, he completely changed and it changed the entire tone of the team. … It was the closest knit team we’ve ever had. He had a lot to do with that.”

Said Koren: “Beginning of the season, I was super intense. Too intense, definitely. And they weren’t responding to it very well. … (Afterward) I was bringing the same energy, but was more supportive and encouraging.”

Now that everyone was pulling on the same rope in the same direction, Koren allowed his game to flourish and for Koren, that meant excelling on defense. While technically a midfielder for the Bears, Koren’s love is defense and, if he can jump up into the attack and help out offensively, that was icing on the cake.

“I just love playing defense,” Koren said. “It just kind of made sense to me. It was fun, gritty. I feel like scoring a goal, everybody got excited. But little things on defense, knocking down a pass, other people don’t often see it.

“They don’t understand some of the nuances.”

Koren’s affinity for defense was solidified during his freshman year, when the only way to get on the field was to play offense. When Kryger told him at the end of the season Koren would be moving back to defensive middie, he was relieved.

“I think I was pretty good [on the attack], but at the end of the season, when Coach Kryger told me I was going back to LSM, I was giddy,” Koren said.

While an LSM is technically a midfield position, the focus is defense first. A long-stick middie usually stays up high on both defense and offense but, because of a lack of quality defenders, Koren was asked to drop even deeper defensively, to play what is called “close defense,” a position in which the defender is essentially man-marking an opposing offensive player.

No problem, Koren said.

“He plays both ways at a level we’ve never had,” Kryger said. “It’s certainly not easy (moving deeper defensively). He’s usually a long-stick midfielder and part way through the season, because of inexperience of close defense, we asked him if he could play there.

“His reaction? Wherever you need me.”

And sometimes that need meant Koren jumped up into the attack and for a LSM, he was quite the attacker, scoring 30 goals this season. In fact, Kryger said Koren was one of his top-six attackers.

“He had a couple of those moments this year where he just took over,” Kryger said. “He has one of the hardest shots we’ve ever had in our program.”

Now that he has wrapped up his high school career, Koren is set to continue playing at Lafayette College in Pennsylvania. He knows the level of play will be a lot more serious at the college level, which allowed him to enjoy his senior year at M-A.

“For me, (my main goal) was to have fun (this season),” Koren said. “I wanted to win league and all that stuff, but I just wanted to enjoy the game, playing with my best friends, rep my high school and all that stuff and just enjoy it.”