RAISING CANE: Hun School boys’ lacrosse player Danny Cano, right, looks to unload the ball in a game this spring. Senior star and Hobart commit Cano tallied 23 goals and eight assists this spring to help Hun go 8-9. (Photo by Frank Wojciechowski)

By Bill Alden

Although the Hun School boys’ lacrosse team went 8-9 this spring, the program made strides as it battled a gauntlet of high-powered foes.

“It was a successful season with the competition that we played — we put the best possible teams on our schedule that we could and for the most part competed in every single game,” said Hun first-year head coach Alex Lopes, whose squad faced Lawrenceville School, the top-ranked team in the nation, along with the Episcopal School (Pa), the Westtown School (Pa.), Gill St. Bernard’s, St. Augustine, and Academy of New Church (Pa.).

“One of the biggest things we wanted was to just put our kids on the field with some of these upper echelon teams. We are not there yet, but at the same time we are really close. For kids who may be looking at Hun, they might think this kind of experience is what they need. I want them to see us playing the best competition possible. I want them to see us playing at a fast pace and try to replicate the college game as much as possible. I think we did that this year.”

Hun ended the season in a college environment, playing in the National Prep Championship at Loyola University in Baltimore, Md. The Raiders started the event with an 11-8 win over Everest Academy (Ontario).

“It was really cool, it was a very well-run event,” said Lopes of the tourney, which saw Hun fall 11-4 to Academy of New Church in the second round of the Mid-Atlantic Prep division of the tournament.

“In our game against Everest Academy, we played great. There was like 35-40 college coaches on the sideline watching our kids. We are creating those opportunities for these kids to be prepared to play the college game but also to put our kids on front of the best coaches in the country. We got some great feedback.”

Days earlier, Hun fell 13-5 to Hopewell Valley in the Mercer County Tournament semis as it fell short of its quest for a third straight county crown. With Hun used to playing with a shot clock this spring under a college format, it struggled to adjust to a game played without a clock.

“You have to defend for 80 seconds, not four minutes, that is a big, big difference,” said Lopes. “When you are not winning face-offs and a team is able to possess for three or four minutes at a time, it is hard to defend for that long. I have to give them credit, they took advantage of their possession. They did a great job, they are a well-coached team. They have talented players.”

Lopes credited his senior group with setting a positive tone this spring.

“I think they just raised the bar for Hun lacrosse in recent years, not necessarily wins and losses and points but just expectations of an individual,” said Lopes. “It is putting in the work in the offseason, being in the weight room consistently, and filling leadership roles.”

Senior attacker Danny Cano, a Hobart commit, put in a lot of good work this season.

“He was such a leader on and off the field,” said Lopes of Cano, who tallied 23 goals and eight assists in 2024. “When you talk about the guy who got everybody excited in the weight room, he really led the charge. Whether he was vocal about it or not, the guys just saw him in there and saw how much he was getting out of it and wanted to follow his lead.”

In the midfield, senior Dillon Bucchere led the way with 22 goals and 20 assists.

“Dillon just does everything, he is just such an important piece of every aspect of the game,” said Lopes of Bucchere, who has committed to continue his lacrosse career at the University of Michigan.

“He just developed offensively, which was part of his game that was not missing but needed to be developed a bit. He finished the year with 42 points and I would say a huge part of that was in transition. He also picked up 56 ground balls. He played defense, he was on the man down.”

A third senior, Brendan Marino, a Stony Brook commit, proved to be a key piece on attack with 54 goals and 15 assists.

“Brendan was a consistent player all year,” said Lopes. “You knew exactly what you were going to get and other teams did too. He got the other team’s best defender. I think he was our emotional leader in terms of being the voice in the huddle and the voice in the locker room. His word carried weight.”

Looking ahead, Lopes believes that junior Brett Stelmach (17 goals, 11 assists in 2024), sophomore Jake Beck (17 goals, 26 assists), and James Dougherty (13 goals, 3 assists) can help carry the Hun attack next year.

“It is going to look different next year offensively,” said Lopes. “I am excited about it because we saw some glimpses of it in the MCT where it is going to be more balanced. It is not going to be one guy running the show. I think we will see six guys out there playing together, moving off ball and moving with the ball. I think the foundation is there to continue to be successful.”

At the defensive end, Hun showed progress led by juniors Jackson O’Brien and Luke Donahue.

“I was very excited about our defense, which was so young at the beginning of the year. Outside of Jack O’Brien and Cutter Swanson, it was brand new,” said Lopes. “There were definitely some bumps in the road early on and some growing pains. I was very excited by how they developed. They asked questions and they just kept getting better.”

In order for Hun’s returning players to get better, they will need to focus on being stronger and fitter.

“One thing I want them to learn and we really preach this a lot is the conditioning piece,” said Lopes. “Especially with our season being as condensed as it is; when we start games, we are talking seven weeks. I hope that they take out of this year the work they put in the fall and the winter heading into the spring is critical to staying healthy and being ready for the seven-week sprint.”

For Lopes — who had previously coached at the college level with stops at Kean University, Fairfield University, New Jersey Institute of Technology, Jacksonville University, and Caldwell University — the move to the high school level was enjoyable.

“The kids are sponges, they just want to get better and they just want to learn,” said Lopes. “It was fun every day. I think moving forward for me, I did learn with this season being as condensed as it is to be more mindful of implementation. We will look at spring break and what we can do there. Once the games start, there are so few practices so it is keeping things simple and at the same time being ready to implement some things a little bit sooner.”

While Lopes may tweak some things schematically, he believes the program’s culture is in a good place.

“As I talked to kids in the end of the year meetings the most important thing to me was that they were happy and having fun and I really think that they did,” said Lopes. “Being a great teammate is the most important thing at the end of the day. We had a team full of great teammates, that is the thing I am most proud of this year.”