At full strength, Glosner ready for breakout year with Derryfield boys lacrosse

Chris Hettler can't help but have big expectations for senior Connor Glosner.

How could the Derryfield School boys lacrosse coach not, when he knows that, as a junior, Glosner was able to garner all-state honors while playing mostly with one good hand.

A four-year varsity player, Glosner was thrust into the starting lineup for most of his freshman season due to injuries to other players, and he more than held his own during that trial run.

But as a sophomore, it appeared he'd taken a step back, and a year ago, there were times that he'd finish games with his wrist in pain, not really knowing why.

Both coach and player found out after last season there was a pretty good reason why.

"He’d been playing the last two seasons with a broken wrist," Hettler said. "That might have explained some of his struggles sophomore year. It was just a misdiagnosis and he’s had a stress fracture and played through it. Amazing grit and determination from him."

The injury kept Glosner from playing hockey during the winter this year, but even though that was the sport he'd picked up first, he knew he needed to be ready for the start of the spring.

"I guess I was always better at lacrosse than I was at hockey, so I kind of transitioned more into playing more lacrosse than hockey," he said. "It was more fun for me. It was easier to play because I could just go outside in the yard and shoot. I didn’t have to worry about ice time. It was more of challenge. I really liked that challenge."

No surprise then that Glosner was up to the challenge of stepping into the varsity lineup as a freshmen when it was needed.

"He produced all the way up to the championship game, he was scoring big goals for us," Hettler said. "He’s a really driven kid. He’s a winner. He had some great influences that year, that senior class was really strong."

The experience from that season, of reaching the Division II championship game and coming up short - Derryfield lost to Goffstown in a one-goal game - helped to shape the way Glosner approached and prepared for the coming seasons.

"That year, we weren’t expected to make it as far as we did because we had just moved up," he said. "It played a big role. It was good to see how if we come together as a team, we play more as a team, it was a different feel to see how freshmen can have a bigger role."

That's something he's kept in mind as the Cougars have prepared for this season. Now that Glosner is a senior captain, he's tried to keep an open line with the younger players who might get a chance to play for the varsity.

"We have to build the program," he said. "This year, we’re going to have to get those freshmen to pick up the pace more than they’re used to. That’s going to be key."

Since that freshman year, Hettler has seen Glosner, who plans to continue his playing career at RPI next year, build himself into a versatile player and expects him to fill a number of roles - on and off the field - for the Cougars.

"Freshman year, we kind of used him as a crease attackman, ball distributor, that kind of thing," the coach said. "His footwork and his ability to run through checks has completely transformed since his freshman year. It’s going to take a very good defender to stop him now.

"We plan on using him not just at attack, but at midfielder, running him out of the box. We want him on the field as much as possible this year because we feel he’s that type of athlete."

After winning back-to-back D2 championships, Glosner's goal isn't to necessarily to make it three titles in a row for Derryfield, but to see the team improve over the level it was at in 2017.

"We want to be better than we were last year, that’s the main goal," he said. "We didn’t lose as many players as we have in past years, so we want to push ourselves. The main expectation is to be better than last year, whether it’s better team play … last year there was a lot of individual talent, which was good, and we played well as a team, but we want to be better."