Last Tuesday, the Starr’s Mill Panthers defeated the Pace Academy Knights, 18-5. Before the match, the Panthers warmed up with the middle school boys lacrosse players. At halftime, the middle school boys played a quick match to show off their skills.
The first quarter was tight with a one point lead for the Panthers. Afterwards, the Panthers took the lead by landslide, ending the second quarter up by five. During the last 30 seconds of the game, we scored a final point ending the game 18-5.
In the first 25 seconds of the game, junior Brody Smith scored the first goal against Pace. Starr’s Mill kept this momentum with seniors Sebastian Patnubay and Tanner Via scoring the second and third points before Pace scored. By the end of the first quarter, the Knights had narrowed the Panther lead to 4-3.
“Our strength is the camaraderie between the boys. We move the ball very well,” first year lacrosse head coach Patrick Cheney said. “We have multiple threats on offense and no weak point on defense.”
Pace Academy only managed two more goals in the second half of the game, while the Panthers posted 13 more. The game ended with a Starr’s Mill victory, 18-5.
An important part of this match was Youth Night. The boys lacrosse team was assigned a middle school athlete to play lacrosse with. This was so that the high school boys could help train and build the skills of the middle school players. This also helped the high school athletes warm up before the game against Pace.
“I feel like [youth night] is a good way to pour into the next generation of our school,“ senior Tyler Cape said.
Youth night was a special event that promoted middle school boys to play lacrosse in high school. It showed them not only what the training would look like, but also how it would be to play in a stadium.
“It was a lot of fun to meet more kids,” Via said. “To be an image for the younger boys, and it will be fun to come back and watch them play.”
At halftime, the middle school athletes played a 12-minute segment of lacrosse. This small game showed the promising skills the middle school boys were already equipped with.
The boys record is 11-1 overall and 4-0 in region. On March 23, the Panthers defeated Woodward Academy, 12-3.