LYNN — A late start and a little bit of rain didn’t stop the Spartans on senior night as their offensive dominance proved to be too much for visiting Bishop Fenwick St. Mary’s cruised to a 6-0 win at Manning Friday night.
The Spartans speed, athleticism, and scoring brilliance was on full display. The team’s accurate and quick passes allowed for players to open up the field and attack Fenwick’s defense from both sides of the field.
Just five minutes into the game, Mark Wood struck first blood for St. Mary’s after receiving a ball crossed into the penalty box. One touch was all it took for Wood and the ball trickled in to make it 1-0.
After allowing that first goal, Fenwick was able to hang in for the latter part of the half. Despite St. Mary’s dominating ball control, the Crusaders had a few quality scoring chances when they were able to gain possession. Nevertheless, they could not capitalize to tie the game and the Spartans got stronger as the game went on.
Roughly 10 minutes later, Dereck Garcia found the back of the net to put the Spartans up two scores. St. Mary’s launched a ball downfield into Fenwick’s defensive zone, where a Crusader failed to intercept the pass, and went right underneath his leg where it found Garcia. He let the ball trickle down to the left hash at around the 10-yard line and created room to take a beautiful shot that just bent into the top right corner of the net. Fenwick’s goalie extended as far as he could but, in the end, there was nothing he could do.
Nick Miller capped off the first-half scoring for the Spartans at the 12-minute mark off a nice through ball by Kaya Jackson that led to a breakaway for Miller. In a one-on-one situation with the goalie, he was able to sneak it into the left post as Fenwick’s goalie was forced to play the middle of the net.
Miller stayed hot after halftime, scoring a pair of goals to earn himself a hat trick. Time after time, he penetrated Fenwick’s defense and used his agility to create multiple scoring chances for himself.
Wood scored the sixth and final goal for the Spartans midway through the second half. The goal was Wood’s second of the game.
The Spartans continue their magical run with first year head coach Shane McCarran. The team is now 10-2-1 and has already improved their win total from last season by two games. The team is young, but that hasn’t stopped them all season long as they continue to show out on the pitch.
St. Mary’s looks to continue its run on Wednesday when they face Cardinal Spellman on the road.
Ryan Vermette can be reached at [email protected]
