ALAPOCAS — Archmere’s defense came to play on May 12, when the Auks’ boys lacrosse team traveled to Wilmington Friends for a matchup of two of the state’s top teams. The offense took a bit to catch up with the defense, but that arrived in time, and the Auks left with an 11-1 win over the Quakers.
The teams, playing through a steady drizzle for much of the game, struggled to get anything going on offense early. Possessions remained away from the goalies until 5:12 was left on the first-quarter clock. That’s when the Auks’ Drew Duncan came out from the X position behind the net, deked and fired high into the net for a 1-0 lead.
The pace picked up in the second, but the scoring stayed scarce. Toward the midway point of the quarter, Archmere sent several shots high and wide of Quakers netmider Ethan Lukach until 6:27 remained in the half. Duncan struck again, this time from a sharp angle to double the lead. Aidan Mahoney added another shortly thereafter, scooping up a rebound and sending the ball low into the net. That was the halftime lead.
The Auks cranked up the offense after the intermission. Duncan got his hat trick on an assist from Alex Starnes while the team was a man up less than a minute into the third. Their next two goals also came on the advantage, one from Duncan and the other from Colin Arcari. Breandan Marley made it 7-0 after making a spin move out of the X position, absorbing a check as he released the ball and watching it go in as he sat on the turf.
Defensively, the Auks were stout. They challenged the Quakers at every turn and did not allow many shots toward goalie Gianni Bifferato. The back line, including Kieran Udovich and John Dellose, made life difficult for the Quakers’ talented attackers.
Friends did break through after a faceoff win late in the third. The ball ended up in the hands of Kevin Dolan, who bounced a ball through Bifferato for the team’s lone goal.
Archmere added four goals in the fourth, including one for defenseman Dellose, who went half the length of the field and sent a shot high into the net. Duncan, Vinnie Scibello and Alex Passehl were the other scorers.
Unofficially, Duncan finished with five goals, and six other players scored one each. The Auks will wrap up the regular season on Wednesday night at Caesar Rodney at 7.
The Quakers closed the regular season 13-2 and will join the Auks near the top of the seedings in the DIAA tournament, which begins with first-round action on May 23 and 24.
All photos by Mike Lang.
