• Coach Mario Lopez

    Defensive Head Coach

  • Coach John Rubano

    Offensive Head Coach

  • Coach Ryan Kelly

    Assistant Coach

  • Jeanee Rubano

    Director of Operations

meet the coaches

Coach Mario Lopez

Mario was a two-time All American long-stick midfielder, Academic All-American and Captain at UMass. He played in the North-South All-Star game his Senior year. He made first-team All-Pro and was a Captain with MLL’s Bridgeport Barrage and also crossed over into box lacrosse with the National Lacrosse League’s Buffalo Bandits. He was inducted to the US Lacrosse Hall of Fame in 2020.

What started out as a double dare from his friend on a bus ride from school in ninth grade became a zealous pursuit of a dream Lopez never knew he had. His friend dared him to play lacrosse and his first day at practice Coach Briggs asked him what stick he wanted. The response was, “I’ll take the longer one because he figured bigger was better”. Once he cradled a lacrosse stick for the first time, his love for the sport began.

Mario’s coaching career includes: Assistant Coach at UMass and Trinity College, helped lead Glastonbury High School to two CT State final games, founded and ran Chief Lacrosse Clinics, LLC for 10 years, and coached at Hall High School and Granby Youth Lacrosse.

Mario is currently a Physical Education teacher in West Hartford and continuing his passion and love of lacrosse coaching Savage.

“POTENTIAL is what you are capable of doing.

MOTIVATION determines what you do.

But it is ATTITUDE that determines how well you do something.”

- Dick Garber UMass Head Coach 1955-1990

coach john rubano

John grew up playing lacrosse in Bethpage, NY where as a senior his team won the NY State High School Championship. John was a Nassau County All-Conference High School player and was the recipient of the prestigious Fran McCall Unsung Hero Award.

John attended Eastern Connecticut State University where he played for legendary coach, Rick McCarthy. At Eastern, John was the first player in school history to receive both All-America and Academic All-America honors.  He was named to the USILA All-America Team as a Senior Captain. John became the first of only three players in program history to record as many as 100 career assists tallying a total 180 career points. He earned Outstanding Student Athlete honors and offensive MVP his Junior and Senior years. During his four years in Willimantic the team had 55 wins with 10 losses and was recognized as a Division III top 20 program. John was inducted to the Eastern Connecticut State University Sports Hall of Fame in 2013. 

John started his youth lacrosse coaching career over 25 years ago working summer camps during his college years. He has gone on to coach youth town lacrosse and for one of the largest national club programs. He now devotes his time to Savage Lacrosse.

John works for a Med-Tech innovation company as a Vice-President and continues to play lacrosse in the Lake Placid Masters Tournament.

“Heart and Hustle is what sets us apart”