Terry Corcoran wanted to build a winner.

Elizabethtown College's fifth-year men's lacrosse coach found the keystone around which to construct his team at the end of his first season in 2006.

And he didn't travel far.

Corcoran watched Manheim Township's All-America midfielder Aaron Weber almost single-handedly win a game for the Blue Streaks.

"What struck me the most about Aaron was what a fierce competitor he was," Corcoran recalled. "He always came up with the big plays when it mattered most."

Since then, the Blue Jays have compiled a 28-17 record with two trips to the Middle Atlantic Conference semifinals.

"If you want a winning team," says Corcoran. "You want to build your team around Aaron. And we did."

As E-town began to fix its lacrosse team, the records started to break.

Weber, an Honorable Mention Preseason All-American, has the career record for points (181) and single-season records for goals (48) and points (73) as his senior season begins. After scoring four goals in Tuesday's season-opening loss to Washington College, the two-time first team All-MAC selection is also 20 goals shy of snapping the career record (129) set by Frankie Puzzangara.

"I try not to think about the records," admitted Weber. "I just go out and play and the records happen if you play hard. It's exciting, though, to have something to look back on,"

Weber wasn't a stranger to success when he started college.

In four years at Township, Weber was a member of two league championship teams and a state runner-up. He scored 124 goals with 44 assists.

Beyond that, according to Weber, having a taskmaster head coach in high school prepared him the most for the college game.

"Rich (Lefever) runs a tough offseason program," Weber said of his high school coach. "He talked a lot about maturity and all of that prepared me to play college lacrosse."

The Blue Jays finished 12-4 last season and made it to MAC semifinals.

They lost four seniors from last season, including Ryan McCafferty, who was drafted in the sixth round of the National Lacrosse League draft by the Orlando Titans.

Joining Weber as returning starters are Greg Kenneally (23, 17), Keith Staulters (18,17) and Jon Day (11, 5) on offense, defenders Mike Kenneally, Brent Campbell and Chris Day and goalie Hunter Malick.

Cocalico's Derek Karsten, a sophomore midfielder, played in all 16 games last year.

"We're excited," Corcoran said of the season. "It's the most experience we've had returning."

VIDEO: College lacrosse previews

• Franklin & Marshall finished 4-9 last season and 2-6 in the Centennial Conference.

The Diplomats fielded a team of mostly underclassmen and coach Todd Cavallaro believes that experience will pay off.

"We had a lot of young guys gain valuable experience last season and that should help us this year," he said.

Five of the Diplomats' losses were one-goal games and Cavallaro expects more close games this season.

"There will be a lot of one-goal games again and hopefully with our experience we can come out on top on some of those," he said.

F&M returns three of its top five scorers from last season in Colin McKew (5, 20), Sean Oliver (12, 2) and Jeff Ritter (8, 3). Also back is goalie Chris Marcozzi, a two-year starter, and defensive leaders Brian Williamson and Jake Litke.

The Diplomats play a tough schedule with five teams ranked in the top 20, including a 19-10 loss to No. 7 Roanoke in the season opener. Three teams in the top 20 are in F&M's conference.

"Our schedule is strong because I feel that if you want to be the best, you have to beat the best," Cavallaro explained.

mblymier@lnpnews.com