Holly Springs boys lacrosse rolls by Apex Friendship

The game wasn’t even three minutes old, yet the Holly Springs boys lacrosse team was already trailing 3-0 to visiting Apex Friendship. Three straight faceoff wins by the Patriots led to quick scoring chances, and they capitalized. Hunter Vaughan and Dan Ritcey scored just 11 seconds apart, and Sam Johnson added one 46 seconds later.

Holly Springs answered though, as the Golden Hawks responded with three straight goals of their own, and wound up winning by a score of 14-7.

“Those were good faceoff wins, and those were good shots, and they beat a very good goalie,” Golden Hawks coach Doug Greenberg said. “We didn’t really make any adjustment at all. Hats off to (Apex Friendship) for the quick start. But that’s what is fun about lacrosse. Anybody can score anytime. It was still a long game ahead. Our seniors knew; no big deal, play confidently and support each other.”

Holly Springs (4-4, 4-4 Southwest Wake 4A) had hat tricks by Justin Boone and Nathan Garland. Thomas Farlow and Avian Mangum each added two, as the Golden Hawks offense has exploded with 35 goals in their two straight wins.

For Apex Friendship (3-5, 3-5), the Patriots will try to snap a two-game losing streak when they host winless Fuquay-Varina next week. Following their fast start, the Patriots failed to produce consecutive goals the rest of the game, and dug themselves a halftime hole of three goals in which they were never able to overcome. If an earlier season result means anything, Apex Friendship should be able to get hot again. They defeated Fuquay in the first game of the season, scoring a season-high 19 goals in the win.

This story was originally published March 24, 2017 at 11:28 PM with the headline "Holly Springs boys lacrosse rolls by Apex Friendship."