LYNN — The St. Mary’s girls lacrosse team is on to states.
St. Mary’s continued its great start to the season Monday with a 13-8 win over Archbishop Williams at Manning Field.
“It feels awesome,” Spartans (10-2) coach K.C. Butt said. “It feels really good. It was great to see everyone step it up. We were transitioning the ball beautifully. Attack was making great cuts and the midfield played great as well.”
The Spartans offense ran through Codi Butt (six goals, three assists) and Mady Hentosh (five goals, two assists). Meg Parthum and Jenna Chaplain each had one goal. Katie Whitcomb had one assist.
Goalie Lauren Vacarro made 10 saves behind a great defensive effort by St. Mary’s.
“Mady and Codi just work really nicely together on offense,” K.C. Butt said. “And on defense my girls played fabulous. Lauren had a bunch of great saves. Our defense all stepped up and played great. Especially because we were missing Sherly Feliz. Shelly Callahan played out of her mind and forced four major turnovers.”
It didn’t take long for St. Mary’s to get on the board, with Butt taking advantage of a corner opportunity and scoring to put the Spartans ahead 1-0 just under three minutes into the first half.
Haley Mullen answered less than a minute later for Williams but St. Mary’s scored the next two goals. Butt dished an assist on a goal from Hentosh and a few minutes later Butt made a move to the front of the net and scored to put St. Mary’s ahead 3-1.
From there both teams went back-and-forth with the Spartans clinging to the lead. Kayleen Sickorez found space out front to get Williams back on the board but Hentosh responded on the Spartans next possession with her second goal. Mullen found the back of the net midway through the first half but once again St. Marys responded, this time with a goal from Chaplain, to go ahead 5-3.
Williams controlled possession in the final few minutes of the half and added back-to-back goals to tie the game at 5-5 with 47 seconds left. After a faceoff win by Hentosh, Butt got another corner opportunity with 13 seconds remaining and found the back to give St. Mary’s a 6-5 lead before the break.
The Spartans controlled possession for the first five minutes of the second half, with Hentosh adding her third goal, but St. Mary’s missed out on a few chances. Williams took advantage with goals from Mullens and Abby Decosta to tie the game at 7-7.
After a time out to regroup, the Spartans looked like a new team through the final 15 minutes of the game. Butt and Hentosh each added a goal to put St. Mary’s back ahead 9-7. Then, Butt scored another pair of goals to stretch the lead to 11-7.
Mullens got Williams back on the board, but St. Mary’s played great defense for the rest of the night. Hentosh and Parthum each scored insurance goals for St. Mary’s to close out the 13-8 win.
After earning a playoff spot, the Spartans will hope to continue to build on their success starting with an away game at Arlington Catholic Wednesday (4).
“We just have to keep building on what we are doing,” Butt said. “It has been nice to build on things we haven’t been able to before. Usually in the past we’re still focusing on ground balls and catching and throwing. This year we’re starting to take it to the next level.”