LYNN— It’s crunch time for the St. Mary’s girls lacrosse team as the Spartans inch toward a state tournament berth.
Although tough weather and injuries have taken their tolls on the Spartans, Saturday’s 15-8 win over Arlington Catholic at Manning Field proved St. Mary’s isn’t letting anything get in its way of reaching the postseason.
With the win, St. Mary’s improved to 8-8 on the season. The Spartans have four games remaining and need two more wins to cement a bid in the tournament.
“I’m proud of them,” St. Mary’s coach K.C. Butt said. “We played four physical, emotional games this week. We have a lot of injuries but the girls are going home, resting, icing and giving it their all on the field. They’re smart, they’re working on the field and making adjustments.”
Codi Butt led the Spartans offense with a 10-goal performance, scoring five goals in each half and dishing two assists. The junior midfielder now has 100 goals scored this season and 205 scored in her three-year varsity career.
Meg Parthum added two goals with two assists, Madi Hentosh scored two goals with four assists, Riley Lynch scored one goal and Kelsey Sullivan tallied one assist.
In net, goalie Lauren Vaccaro made 12 saves.
The Spartans scored eight of the game’s 13 first-half goals. They took a quick lead out of the gate behind goals from Butt and Parthum in the game’s first minute. Arlington Catholic got one back to make it a 2-1 game before Butt fired her second goal in to make it a 2-goal lead again. The Cougars scored to make it 3-2 with 20:07 remaining in the period. The Spartans answered with a 3-goal spurt, tallies from Parthum, Lynch and Butt, to grab a 6-2 with 8:42 left in the half. Butt poured in two more goals through the remainder of the period, including one with 4.3 seconds, giving the Spartans an 8-5 lead at recess.
“I think the girls were still exhausted from Friday’s game,” K.C. Butt said. “We didn’t take care of the ball and Arlington Catholic kept coming back at us. After halftime we had a nice talk and they did a nice job of playing the game that they can play.”
St. Mary’s took total control in the second half. Arlington Catholic slimmed its deficit to 8-6 with a goal 50 seconds into the period. St. Mary’s answered with a 7-goal run, powered by five scores from Butt and two tallies from Hentosh, to seize momentum. The Spartans rally gave St. Mary’s a comfortable 15-6 lead with 5:45 left on the clock.
“They took care of the ball,” K.C. Butt said of the second half surge. “They did what they needed to do. Our offense settled down, moved the ball nicely and didn’t rush anything. That was what we needed.”
Aside from two Cougars goals in the final minute, the Spartans defense held Arlington Catholic to just one goal for the majority of the second half.
“Unfortunately one of my good defensemen wasn’t feeling well,” K.C. Butt said. “I didn’t realize it and she was struggling. I had some younger kids go in and step up. They did a nice job. They listened really well, they worked together and the communication improved. That helps a lot.”
St. Mary’s has two games each against Lowell Catholic and Lynnfield remaining on its regular season schedule.
“If we play like that, we should have a really good shot at it (tournament),” K.C. Butt said. “With so many injuries, it’s nice that this upcoming week is slow. We have a game Monday and then we don’t play again until Saturday. The kids need that.”
