Boys lacrosse: Maine South cruises past Vernon Hills
A strong start led to a great night for Maine South Tuesday when the Hawks hosted Vernon Hills in nonconference boys lacrosse action.
The visiting Cougars fell behind 5-1 after one quarter, and 12-2 at halftime and they could never recover after that point as Maine South cruised to a 17-8 victory despite a comeback attempt by Vernon Hills in the second half.
Maine South junior Sean Mullan had a strong performance for the Hawks with 5 goals, including a goal just 28 seconds into the contest as he fired a shot past Vernon Hills goalie Matthew Weinstein from close range for a quick 1-0 lead.
Another close-range goal by Mullan exactly two minutes later made the score 2-0 before teammate Michael Gardiner scored on an assist by Wil Guzaldo to boost the lead to 3-0 with 8:05 left in the first quarter.
The Cougars (1-1) got on the scoreboard on Jack Sweeney's goal from 12 yards out, but Mullan grabbed a rebound and scored for a 4-1 lead less than a minute later. Then Mullan used a spin move to score his fourth goal from deep on the right wing for a 5-1 lead late in the first period.
"We didn't play our best in the first half. We came out a bit sluggish, but we played much better in the second half," said Vernon Hills coach Patrick Fitzgibbons. "So we have to build on that in terms of making progress and coming back and making a decent showing in the second half."
Two goals by Maine South's Evan Rachmiel boosted the lead to 7-1 before Guzaldo scored from a tough angle to the right of Weinstein for an 8-1 lead.
The Hawks' offense kept rolling as goals by Timothy Whitelaw, Guzaldo, and Bennett Smith gave them a commanding 11-1 lead with 2:15 to go in the second quarter.
"We just played really fast and that's what we're really trying to do is make the other team come up to our level of speed," said Maine South coach Cam Staffel, whose team is now 1-2. "(Mullan) and (Guzaldo) did a great job of controlling the game. They didn't push when they didn't need to, and they were very, very under control."
Vernon Hills got a goal from Tyler Tran assisted by Andrew Lin before Mullan's fifth goal made the score 12-2 at the intermission.
A goal by Maine South's Nolan Hoffman boosted the lead to 13-2 before Guzaldo's goal made it 14-2 early in the second half. Vernon Hills got 2 goals from Erik Boehmer, a goal by Sweeney, and a goal by Tran to cut the lead to 14-6 after three quarters.
Fourth-quarter goals by Smith, Tran, Maine South's Rowan Keefe, Sweeney, and Maine South's Ryan Gaertner accounted for the final score.
"We started off hot, we finally came out and got a win, and hopefully we can get on a roll from here," said Mullan. "We were just strong on all sides of the ball, playing with heart, and we were running the whole game."