Boys lacrosse: Undermanned Marin Academy falls to defending NCS champ De La Salle
From the start of the season, Skyler Hopkins was looking forward to watching his Marin Academy squad take on the three-time defending NCS Division I champions from De La Salle. But no one counted on the Wildcats roster being ravaged by season-ending injuries in the week prior to their contest.
“We circled this date on our calendar at the beginning of the year,” Hopkins said after Thursday’s 17-5 loss to the Spartans in San Rafael. “We want to go out there and compete against the best. That was a tough one out there, though.”
The Wildcats (7-4) lost both starting goalkeeper Matt McKane and backup goalie James Baker to injuries recently, and neither is expected to be back in net this season. Hopkins called on defenseman Hayden Walz to fill the void, despite the fact that Walz has never played the goalie position in high school. Wildcats defenseman Shane Whitley is also sidelined with a torn rotator cuff.
Meanwhile, De La Salle (8-3) is on the upswing with a four-game winning streak after Thursday’s win. The Spartans are now 2-2 against Marin County teams, with wins against Marin Academy and Tam, and losses to Marin Catholic and Redwood.
Walz, who isn’t used to standing in a cage and letting people hurl hard objects at him, faced 37 shots from the Spartans, and managed eight saves.
“I’m really proud of Hayden,” Hopkins said. “He stepped up and he’s not a goalie, but he’s doing everything he can to just jump in there and be a great teammate, and we’re going to rally around him.”
The Wildcats managed to get off 12 shots, with Logan Chapman hitting the target twice. Kenyon College-bound Henry Wooster, Williams College commit Nate Felsenthal, and Fineas DeGooyer each scored a goal.
Thursday’s non-league matchup was expected to be a potential playoff preview, with the Wildcats ranked third in NCS and the Spartans ranked fifth.
“I see every game as an opportunity for us to get better,” said Hudson Lee, one of three Spartans players with three goals, along with Kellen Dunn and Henry Benner. Cole Westphal and Jude Beeken tallied two goals each.
The Spartans dominated Thursday’s game, taking an 11-3 lead in the first half. Lee scored the game’s opening goal. Chapman knotted the score a minute later as he cut in front of the Spartans goal and slipped the ball past the netminder.
De La Salle quickly took the lead again and built a 4-1 advantage before Wooster scored for the Wildcats near the end of the first quarter. De La Salle scored another four goals before Marin Academy got on the scoreboard again with a goal from Felsenthal off an assist from Wooster.
Chapman and DeGooyer scored back-to-back goals in the third to trim De La Salle’s lead to 13-5. The Spartans were unfazed as they cruised to the finish.
“We were coming off a few rough games earlier in the season,” Lee said. “But we really held it together as a team and played team ball, and everybody played their part. The offense was flowing and the defense was communicating and our goalie was playing out of his mind. That’s the best game I’ve seen him play in a while.”
The Wildcats, fighting to get past a three-game skid, are scheduled to travel to Southern California on Tuesday to play Westlake and Crespi, before playing Tam on April 16.