Curley’s Zach Alark, who scored one goal in  the Friars 17-2 win over Toms River North, charges into open space.

In
search of a little seasoning and perhaps a lesson or two, the Toms
River North boys lacrosse team ventured to Baltimore over the weekend
to test its mettle against 14th ranked Archbishop Curley.  For the
Mariners, in their just their fourth season of lacrosse, the lessons
were hard learned, as they suffered a 17-2 thrashing at the hands of
the host Friars, but the mission was accomplished for a squad looking
for exposure to a higher level of play and an opportunity to grow.

College
teammates at Roanoke University (VA), where they were both Division III
All-Americans in the early nineties, Curley coach Josh Latona and North
coach Brett Smith setup the game and the Curley lacrosse community
rolled out the red carpet for the Mariners.

North arrived in
Baltimore on Friday and each player was hosted at the home of a Curley
player.  Smith and his staff stayed with Latona, as both teams bonded
on a personal level.  The two squads then took to the field early
Saturday morning, before feasting on a spread prepared by the Friar C
Club, Curley’s booster group, and traveling together to Towson
University for a Division I college game matching Towson against Johns
Hopkins.

“It was a great experience.  We learned a lot,” said
senior attackman T.J. Heuschkel, who scored Toms River’s first goal
with a nifty move and shot from the right side of the cage, midway
through the second quarter.  “It was a good team obviously, so we’ll
take what we learned and go back to Toms River with it and hopefully
destroy the teams down there.”

Curley (14-1 overall) is 10-0 in
the MIAA’s B Conference.  Although not to be confused with the national
powers that hail in the MIAA A Conference, Curley is enjoying an
outstanding season and the Friars flashed their talent early and often
in this one.

Senior Kyle Ashe won the opening draw and raced to
the goal where he netted an unassisted score, just five seconds into
the contest.  Curley would go on to score six unanswered goals in the
first quarter and built a 9-0 lead before Heuschkel finally dented the
nets for Toms River, with 7:28 remaining in the first half.

Following
a tenth Curley goal, senior Brendan Hirtes put North on the board again
and the Mariners (5-2, 3-0) went to the half with a little momentum,
despite trailing 10-2.  The second half, however, was all Curley, as
the Friars scored seven more times and blanked North over the final two
quarters.

For the record, Curley junior Kevin Ruth had a monster
day, scoring five goals and handing out two assists, as he repeatedly
planted himself in open space in front of the North goal and converted
entry feeds.  Senior Doug Herdigan also had a seven point game for the
Friars, as he finished with four goals and three assists.

“This
is our fourth year as a program and we’ve made great strides with this
team, but it is good to see some lacrosse where the ball is moving
quickly and guys are getting up and down the field,” said Smith.  “I
think it opened our eyes to a lot of stuff we’ve been talking about. 
Now, we’ve got the kids to see it and it was certainly worth the trip.”

Curley’s
Latona also felt it was a good experience for his team as it readies
for the conclusion of its regular season and the playoffs.

“We
have to come out every game and execute â?? catch, throw, run the offense
and execute man-up and man-down,” said Latona, who’s staff includes
goalies coach Frank Romeo, a member of the same Roanoke teams which
included the two head coaches.  “I was pleased with what I saw today. 
We played a very good game.”