Things looked good early as the Fenwick High School boys lacrosse team opened up a big first-half lead against Whitney Young during its IHSA state tournament opener May 18.
But the Dolphins rallied in the second half to hand the Friars a season-ending 10-9 defeat at the Priory Campus in River Forest.
“[Young] made some adjustments and we weren’t able to do the same,” said Fenwick coach Dan Applebaum.
Fenwick (7-9) had two good looks in the final minute of the match in an effort to force overtime, but one shot went wide right, and the second was stopped by the Young goalkeeper. A couple of other chances never came to fruition due to errant ball handling.
“Their goalie made a couple of good saves, and we also dropped a couple of passes,” Applebaum said. “It’s the way the ball bounces sometimes.”
The Friars had a young team this spring, with just three seniors in Nico Karris, Grant Schleiter and Nick Scudder on the roster.
“Overall, it was a great year for us,” he said. “We did a lot of growing and learning. We’re obviously going to miss our three seniors, who did a great job of being leaders.”
With 21 players returning next year, expect Fenwick to have a bounce-back season.
Fenwick tennis
The Fenwick boys tennis team tied for sixth with 8 points at the IHSA Class 1A Hinsdale South sectional May 20.
Although the Friars failed to qualify any entries to the state finals, there were a few good performances. After a first-round bye, Tom Shishman won his second-round singles match 6-0, 6-0 over Mark Splingaire of Hinsdale South. He lost his quarterfinal to eventual sectional champion Andrew Wolk of Elmwood Park 1-6, 2-6.
Fenwick’s other singles player, Bobby Anzaldi, dropped his opener 1-6, 3-6 to Ethan Pan of Hinsdale South.
Following a bye, the Friars’ doubles pairing of Danny McGarel and Jack Harrison won their second-round match 6-4, 6-3 over Eddie McNamara and R.J. Capiak of Nazareth Academy, but they fell in the quarterfinals 3-6, 4-6 to Rithik Selvaraj and Rohan Bansal of Hinsdale South.
Fenwick’s other doubles pairing of Marty Morrissey and Quinn Hayes also had a first-round bye. However, they lost their second-round match 2-6, 2-6 to Elliot Tandy and Andrew Asmus of Timothy Christian.
