(Photo by Bill Allen/NJ SportAction) caption: ON THE STICK: Hun School boys’ lacrosse defenseman Chris Loy patrols the field in action last spring. Last Friday, Loy and the Raiders had a tough time stopping Hopewell Valley as Hun fell 10-7. The Raiders, now 3-3, play at Notre Dame on April 18 and at Princeton High on April 19 before hosting Voorhees on April 22.

Martin Recovers From Knee Surgery To Spark Attack for Hun Boys’ Lax

Bill Alden

Zach Martin came into this season as a bit of a mystery man for the Hun School boys’ lacrosse team.

After being sidelined all last year due to a knee injury, the junior attacker has been determined to make his presence felt this spring.

“I wanted to come back strong,” said Martin. “Nobody knew who I was; I wanted to make a difference.”

Martin has certainly been a difference maker for Hun, having scored a total of 10 goals in Hun’s three games before its contest last Friday with Hopewell Valley.

Against HoVal, Martin kept rolling, tallying a game-high five goals to lead the Hun attack. Unfortunately for the Raiders, Martin’s heroics weren’t enough as HoVal won 10-7.

With Hun stars Brendan Gallagher and Sam Rosenberg sidelined last Friday, Martin felt he needed to carry a heavier load against the Bulldogs.

“It’s more of a depth problem with Sam Rosenberg and Brendan out,” said Martin.

“Harry Blackburn and I knew that we needed to pick it up. I thought we did that, we executed pretty well.”

Martin has a solid connection with classmate Blackburn, who was credited for five assists in the loss which dropped Hun to 3-3 on the season.

“We have been playing together forever,” said Martin. “We have been playing together since we were little, so we know each other really well.”

After fracturing his left knee in the summer before his sophomore year, Martin didn’t know how much he would be able to contribute down the road for the Raiders.

“I had micro fractures and surgery in August that year,” said Martin. “It was about four or five months before I was able to run again.”

In fact, Martin’s first lacrosse action since his injury only came when the Raiders started preseason practice.

“The first time, I started practicing lax was the day we started,” recalled Martin.

“My knee was still weak. I try to work it out everyday to get it back to full strength. My stick skills are there because I was fooling around with the stick all last year.”

Hun head coach Greg Provenzano is happy to have Martin there for his squad this spring.

“Zach has been great, he’s been our key guy back there on attack,” said Provenzano.

“He’s been a real great team leader. He knows the game real well and he’ll just get better and better.”

Provenzano acknowledged that his team didn’t play the game well collectively against Hopewell Valley as it fell behind 4-1 in the early going and never got closer than two goals the rest of the day.

“We had our chances, without a doubt and we didn’t execute,” said Provenzano.

“That’s the game of lacrosse, if you don’t execute in the critical times of the game, there are too many momentum swings.”

Hun needs its defense to stiffen up in order to keep its foes from gaining momentum.

“We’re playing together and then we have lapses,” lamented Provenzano.

“They score some quick cheapies on us and we can’t let that happen. This game is too fast to let those things happen; one missed shot or one blocked shot can be the difference.”

With a club that has only a couple of seniors, Provenzano thinks his team can grow into a force.

“We need more fundamental work, we still blow too many passes, we dropped the ball too many times, said Provenzano, whose team plays at Notre Dame on April 18 and at Princeton High on April 19 before hosting Voorhees on April 22.

“They’re young players, I have juniors and freshman mostly. We’re going to go with that and hopefully put something together. I still feel pretty good about the club. I think we’ll do OK. We tell them make your mistakes now and we’ll know what’s going on and maybe we can have a nice finish.”

Martin, for his part, is confident that Hun will be OK once it is at full strength.

“We need to work some more clearing,” said Martin. “Just having Brendan and Sam playing everyday is going to help us get better.”

And having Martin back from injury has certainly made Hun better.

Return to Previous Sports Story | Return to Top | Go to Calendar