Fra Noi Embrace Your Inner Italian
After 12 years of competitive hockey, Giancarlo Munaretto switched sports and then schools on the way to a promising trajectory in lacrosse.
Though his first love was hockey, Giancarlo Munaretto, a senior at Wheaton Academy, is a top lacrosse goalie on a team that just won the IHSA state championship. And he’s on track to play the sport at a high-level college next year.
It all started in 5th grade when he noticed some neighbor kids, twins Sam and AJ Guercio, playing lacrosse and wandered over to check it out.
“I liked it right away,” Munaretto says. “I think I had a natural affinity for stick sports.”
With the Guercio twins’ encouragement, he joined a youth team with Western Springs Lacrosse during the hockey off-season. In 7th grade, the lacrosse club didn’t have a goalie so the coaches tested the whole team for good candidates.
“My dad picked me up from practice that day, saw that I had the goalie gear and looked at me and sighed and said, ‘What are you doing with that?’” Munaretto says. “I think he liked watching me score goals. But he’s adapted now and he loves it.”
During his freshman year at Fenwick High School, Munaretto played hockey in the fall and lacrosse in the spring.
“I’d just broken my thumb in a skiing accident so I couldn’t play varsity (lacrosse) my freshman year,” he says. “But I can honestly say I was so glad I played junior varsity instead because we had a phenomenal season and that developed my love for the sport.”
Realizing he wanted to pursue lacrosse full time, Munaretto hung up his hockey pads for good.
“It was the end of 12 years of competitive hockey,” he says. “I’m thankful I made that decision, though it was bittersweet.”
Munaretto had been playing for East Ave Lacrosse, a suburbs-based club program, but soon got on the radar of True Lacrosse, a nationwide organization.
“The national group compiles the better kids from each program into teams that play at national tournaments,” he says. “It is a very high level of play and has made me much better.”
Munaretto then made another big decision: to transfer to Wheaton Academy. While playing with True Lacrosse he met Geof Weisenborn, who coached for True as well as being Wheaton’s head coach.
Munaretto says Weisenborn didn’t recruit him to Wheaton but did explain the opportunities the school offered.
“He was incredibly right,” he says. “I just wanted to see how far I could take myself with lacrosse and I needed to be surrounded by guys who wanted to put just as much into it as I did.”
He quickly formed a tight bond with his new teammates. His sophomore season was successful but the goal remained: win the IHSA state title.
That goal seemingly was dealt a huge blow halfway through Munaretto’s junior season when Coach Weisenborn told the boys he had to resign because of a family medical situation.
“It was a shock and very, very tough on the guys, for sure,” he says.
Longtime assistant coach Cort Miller stepped up and was a rock for the players, according to Munaretto.
“We anchored around him,” he says. “Growing through the struggle meant the chemistry difference going into the playoffs was unbelievable.”
Munaretto and Cason Ross, the team’s senior captain who’s now playing for Aurora University, shared goalie duty.
“Cason and I essentially operated as a two-goalie system, with me generally playing the second half,” Munaretto says. “Cason and I became very close during our two seasons together, and he was actually a big part of the reason I transferred to Wheaton Academy.”
At the end of the tournament, Munaretto and his teammates secured the state championship for the second time in Wheaton Academy’s history.
Now the team is aiming to do it all over again.
“We will be back-to-back state champions,” Munaretto declared. “That is our goal and we have faith in each other. It is a question of will—I think we have the will to do it.”
The above article appears in the December 2026 issue of the print version of Fra Noi. Our gorgeous, monthly magazine contains a veritable feast of news and views, profiles and features, entertainment and culture.
To view a sample copy, click here.
To subscribe, click here.
