SAVING GRACE: Hun School girls’ lacrosse goalie Lauren Cunniff makes a save in recent action. Last Thursday, senior star Cunniff made 11 saves in a losing cause as 10th-seeded Hun fell 6-1 at seventh-seeded Hightstown in the second round of the Mercer County Tournament. The Raiders, now 6-9, will wrap up their season by hosting WW/P-North on May 10 and playing at Morristown on May 11. (Photo by Frank Wojciechowski)

By Bill Alden

Playing at seventh-seeded Hightstown last Thursday afternoon in the second round of the Mercer County Tournament, the 10th-seeded Hun School girls’ lacrosse team was on track for an upset in the early going.

The teams were tied 1-1 at halftime and Hun head coach Liz Cook was encouraged by how her team started. “I felt we played them really well in the first half,” said Cook, who got a goal from Lauren John at the 6:26 mark of the contest and saw her defense hold the Rams scoreless until 47 seconds before intermission.

The Raiders, though, didn’t play well in the early stages of the second half, yielding four unanswered goals in the first seven minute of the second half. While Hun generated a number of scoring opportunities after that, it never got into a rhythm on the way to a 6-1 loss.

“We lost our confidence.
I think we played as individuals in the second half a little bit,” lamented Cook.

“We were trying to go to goal without sticking to the plan, without passing the ball. Everyone seemed to be charging the net for themselves. No one wanted to take on the leadership role for themselves and that is when it sort of fell apart.”

Senior goalie and co-captain Lauren Cunniff, who will be playing at Stevens Institute of Technology next year, showed some leadership, making 11 saves as she kept the Raiders in the game.

“Lauren had great saves; that kid was getting peppered at the end and she held her own,” said Cook, whose team dropped to 6-9 with the setback.

In Cook’s view, her squad’s uneven performance against the Rams was a microcosm of a frustrating campaign.

“We have had a funny season like that, I feel like we get confidence and then we lose it,” said Cook. “We have a young bench, so it is hard for us to figure out our attack. We are a playing a 5-3-3, so I am using a defensive stance when we get out there. It seems to work on some teams and it doesn’t on others.”

With Hun wrapping up its season by hosting WW/P-North on May 10 and playing at Morristown on May 11, Cook is looking for her players to work hard to the end.

“I want to finish strong; I hope they don’t take this as the end of the season,” said Cook.

“We are going to focus on our seniors (Josie Cook, Hannah Bunce, Isabelle Ross, Olivia Tarditi, and Cunniff); they have meant a lot to our team this year. It has been an up-and-down season for them, so I want them to finish strong and get the wins for them, or at least have good games and show these seniors how much we care about them because they are so awesome. We hate to see them leave.”