LYNN — On a cold night at Manning Field, the St. Mary’s boys lacrosse team faced off against, perhaps, its toughest opponent yet: Arlington Catholic.
Unfortunately for the Spartans, they couldn’t hold off the firepower of the Cougars, losing 11-4.
“The first time we played them, we lost 17-5,” St. Mary’s coach Wayne Silva said. “We’re improving.”
The Spartans trailed 6-2 at halftime and showed, frankly, some serious potential to begin the third quarter. St. Mary’s dominated, controlling the ball for six consecutive minutes.
“We had an offensive possession that lasted six minutes, and another that was four minutes, so we had the ball for 10 minutes of the 12-minute quarter,” Silva said. “I wanted them to control the possession, and they did.”
Despite that possession, St. Mary’s couldn’t translate it to goals. Against the momentum, Arlington Catholic showed why it’s a tough team to beat, scoring two goals in the two minutes of possession it had in the quarter – one that ended 8-2 in favor of the visitors.
“We’re young, but the kids are working hard to get better,” Silva said. “Watching this young team develop over the last couple of games has been great.”
Towards the tailend of the fourth quarter, the Spartans found some more offense, scoring two late goals. But unfortunately for the hosts, that would be all.
Among other positives, Silva praised the work of defensive midfielder Nick Turpin.
“Back from injury, he played very well defensively,” Silva said.
Another player who brought the crowd to its feet was captain Brady Ayles. With 4.9 seconds remaining in the first, Ayles was parallel to the goal and – from the tightest of angles – zipped one in from 18 yards out.
Silva said morale is high, and judging by his team’s smiles after the game, it looks like the Spartans are on their way up.
St. Mary’s travels to take on Essex Tech this Saturday at 10 a.m.
