HOCKESSIN — Sanford hung around Archmere for the first half of their boys lacrosse game on April 22, but the final two minutes of the half and all of the second half belonged to the Auks. Archmere scored six straight goals to take control in a 14-5 road win over the Warriors.
After a Sanford timeout, Ethan Lucky scored from 15 yards out to tie the score, 4-4, with 2:27 to go in the first. After that, however, the Auks turned the momentum.
Wyatt Beekley won the ensuing faceoff, and the Auks held on to the ball for half a minute before Jonah Kuzinski converted a pass from Aidan Mahoney (St. Ann Parish) to restore the Archmere lead. They looked poised to take the one-goal cushion into intermission, but David Pinto had other ideas. With time winding down, Pinto (St. Maximilian Kolbe Parish, Chadds Ford, Pa.) had a shot stopped by Warriors goalie Gavin Campbell, but the ball bounced right back to Pinto, who deposited it into the net with six seconds remaining.
Quin Duncan got the scoring started just half a minute into the second half, coming out from the X position and going high. Mahoney was next, cutting down the middle and taking a pass from Pinto for the goal with the Auks a man up.
The momentum shift got a boost midway through the third. With 6:43 remaining, Mahoney struck again. The goal followed a scramble in front of the net. Jack King corralled a loose ball following a shot on goal. King flipped to Mahoney before he could be knocked to the ground, and Mahoney scored upstairs.
Sanford won the faceoff after that, but a bad pass ended up in the stick of Duncan. He was all alone in front of Campbell and did not miss. That goal took just eight seconds off the cock and boosted the Archmere lead to 10-4. Dominic Ameer went into the upper corner of the net with 5:09 to go in the period to snap the Auks’ goal-scoring streak and cut the deficit to five goals.
The only scoring for the remainder of the afternoon, however, came from the Auks. Duncan added two of the remaining markers to finish with three for the afternoon.
Mahoney led the Auks with five goals, and Pinto also had multiple goals with two. Zidane Brena had 11 saves, and Michael Smith added another during a brief stint in net. Archmere improved to 7-1 and visits Delaware Military on April 29 at 3:45 p.m.
Ameer and Lucky each had a pair for Sanford, and Campbell stopped 14 shots. The Warriors (5-3) remain home on Thursday against Tower Hill at 4 p.m.
Photos by Mike Lang.
