MILLTOWN — It must have been Nate Hughes Day at Saint Mark’s High School because whenever one looked on the lacrosse field in the Spartans’ matchup with Red Lion Christian, No. 7 had the ball. And he knew what to do with it, scoring 13 times in Saint Mark’s 17-4 win over the Lions on May 5.
The teams were tied, 2-2, after a first quarter that featured few offensive chances. Hughes scored one of the Spartans’ goals; the other belonged to Julian Kaminski (Church of the Holy Child). The next two quarters belonged to the Spartans, who dominated possession while scoring 11 consecutive goals.
Hughes, of course, got the run started fewer than two minutes into the second. He had hit a post on a previous attempt, but Saint Mark’s kept possession, and Dylan Mauloni found Hughes, who sent a shot low past Red Lion goalie Tyler Hendricks. After a Lions violation on the next faceoff, the Spartans held the ball for more than a minute before Hughes cut down the middle and took a pass from Landon Bedder.
Hendricks kept the Spartans’ lead at two goals for several minutes with three big saves, but there was little he could do when Noah Prospero deked his way around a defender and sent a sharp-angle shot high into the net. Hughes added two more before halftime, one on a man-up situation, the other from in close while absorbing a check that sent him to the grass. Red Lion, meanwhile, when they did get set up on offense, could not solve Spartans goalie Cole Kennedy.
Saint Mark’s erased any doubt about the outcome when they scored four goals in a span of 1:13 early in the third quarter. Hughes had three of those.
The Lions got back on the board with 29 seconds remaining in the third. Camdon Pierce sent a shot high, making the score 13-3 in favor of the Spartans.
Prospero had three goals for Saint Mark’s, who improved to 4-8 and have won four of their last five. The Spartans are home against Appoquinimink on Thursday at 3:45 p.m.
Pierce had two for the Lions (6-5), who are scheduled to host Polytech on Wednesday at 4 p.m.
Photos by Mike Lang.
