TURNING THE CORNER: Hun School girls’ lacrosse player Nicole Apuzzi runs around a defender in recent action. Last Wednesday, freshman standout Apuzzi scored two goals to help Hun defeat Stuart Country Day 15-9 in its season finale. The victory gave the Raiders a final record of 7-8 this spring, a vast improvement on the 1-11 mark posted in 2014. (Photo by Frank Wojciechowski)

There was some crying when the Hun School girls’ lacrosse team lost 12-7 to WW/P-N in the Mercer County Tournament earlier this month but Liz Cook was smiling inside.

“For some reason, the game against North was so awesome, something clicked on the way to the game, they said coach we have got this,” said Hun first-year head coach Liz Cook.

“They had tears at the end and that was nice to see, it showed how much they cared. They showed a real progress. All that work from October on really paid off. The transition game was beautiful. I think we played at a whole other level. They really believed in themselves. They played together and were connecting together.”

Hun gained some self belief in two other key games down the stretch, a 15-14 regular season win over Prep B finalist Pennington in overtime on April 29 and a 10-9 victory over Blair in the state Prep A quarterfinals two days earlier.

“Pennington has a really great team, they have a lot of speed,” said Cook. “The girls have worked hard before games, watching film. They have studied hard, they are like sponges. They have learned to adjust and play against each team; doing things to take away their strengths and play to our strengths. We did that against Pennington. We watched a lot of film on Blair before that game. We had a game plan and they carried it out. I really enjoyed watching that; it was a great bus ride back.”

The Raiders ended their good ride this spring with a 15-9 win over Stuart Country Day last Wednesday, giving the squad a final record of 7-8, a vast improvement on the 1-11 mark posted in 2014.

“We really needed that, it was great to come out with a win,” said Cook, who got four goals and four assists from senior star and Bryn Mawr-bound Erica Dwyer in the win over Stuart. “It was funny, after the Stuart game, the kids all wanted to have practice the next day.”

Cook knows she was lucky to have a group of seniors that included defenders Shannon Graham, Amanda Barbour, and Taylor Nehlig along with midfielder/attacker Dwyer.

“I will miss every single one of them; it was my first year here and they were my leaders,” said Cook, referring to her quartet of seniors.

“I could really count on them. The three defenders helped hold our defense together and Erica settled our attack and calmed things down when we had the ball.”

Cook, for her part, enjoyed making an impact in her first year at the helm of  the Hun program.

“I wanted them to believe in themselves and to have a female mentor to help them athletically and academically,” said Cook.

“I told them the culture of losing is over; they see that they are able to attain anything they go after. I told them they needed to improve every day in practice and in every game and they did that. They always had the talent, they just needed some guidance.”

With a core of talented players coming back, Cook believes that Hun will keep improving.

“I am really excited about the future,” asserted Cook. “We have such a young team, they are so hungry for it. A lot of them play lacrosse outside of school. Over the next two or three years, they could be something really special. They are really together.”