Lion Sports Update 01/16

Soccer
On December 19, the varsity soccer team played Trinity Christian Academy. The Lions compiled quality minutes of possession but had few answers in the attacking third. Solid team defense and strong play from senior Jack Rocchio and junior Benjamin Hao kept the match scoreless until late in the second half. In the closing minutes, the Lions committed to attack leaving them vulnerable to Trojan counter attacks. As a result, St. Mark’s conceded twice, losing the match 0-2. The following evening, St. Mark’s hosted the Home School Athletic Association. The Lions rebounded well from the previous evening’s disappointment, beating HSAA 4-0. Sophomore Henry McElhaney opened the scoring in the thirtieth minute with an exceptional free-kick. Just after halftime, junior Romil Mathur found the back of the net with an assist from junior Russell Wilner. Sophomore Cristian Periera added a goal in the fifty-first minute. McElhaney would earn a brace when he closed the scoring in the sixty-sixth minute with an assist from senior Seth Weprin. Two days later, the varsity lost 1-2 to the alumni in a highly entertaining and enjoyable match that concluded the first half of the season. After a rigorous week of training, the Lions hosted Bishop Dunne on a gorgeous Saturday afternoon. St. Mark’s enjoyed the fruits of their labor with a 8-3 victory. First half goals from junior Russell Wilner and sophomore Knobel Hunt put the Lions ahead within the first twenty minutes. Then, St. Mark’s conceded twice on counter attacks to find themselves level just before halftime. Junior Billy Lockhart scored a timely goal on the stroke of halftime to see the Lions regain the lead. The second half saw St. Mark’s dominate possession and improve the scoreline with goals from Lyle Ochs, William Holtby, and McElhaney, with Hunt and Lockhart each picking up a second goal. On Tuesday, January 8th, St. Mark’s had another strong offensive display when they hosted HSAA again. In the sixth minute, Holtby proved to be an offensive catalyst when his shot was parried by the keeper and an opportunistic play from Hunt lead to an emphatic finish. Less than four minutes later, Holtby’s through ball was perfectly weighted onto the feet of Hunt, who coolly slotted it past the keeper to earn a brace. Holtby would go on to score the third goal of the half, the beneficiary of some wonderful combination play from Ochs and Weprin. Just before halftime, Holtby returned the favor by setting up Ochs with his second goal in as many matches. Early in the second half, HSAA was awarded a penalty kick which they converted to trim the St. Mark’s lead to three goals. Within two minutes, senior Emmett Berger scored his first goal of the season with a first time, left-footed strike from Periera’s cross. On January 11th, the Lions hosted Trinity Christian Academy. The match resulted in a scoreless draw. St. Mark’s demonstrated a much-improved defense in denying an offensive-minded TCA squad a goal. This week the Lions play their first two SPC counter matches: at Greenhill on Tuesday and at Ft. Worth Country Day on Friday.

Basketball

On December 21, the Lions hosted Gateway Christian and won comfortably. The following afternoon, St. Mark's alumni players & families filled Hicks Gymnasium. More than 25 former players suited up and tirelessly competed against the current generation of Marksmen. Later that evening, a number of past and present St. Mark’s student-athletes headed to SMU to support Jack Gordon ‘15 and his Cornell Big Red as they took on the Mustangs. After taking a few days off, the Lions were back in action at the 53rd annual DISD Holiday Invitational Tournament sponsored by Coca-Cola. 32 teams from across the DFW metroplex came together for the event. In the first round, St. Mark's won over North Dallas. In the second round, the Lions faced highly-ranked 5A Frisco Liberty. The game seesawed back-and-forth, but St. Mark's held a small lead throughout the majority the fourth quarter. A couple of late mistakes, however, sent the game to overtime. In the extra period, a handful of clutch scores enabled St. Mark's to pull out the victory. In the third round, the Lions faced Dallas Carter, last year's UIL 4A state runner-up. St. Mark's had beaten Carter earlier in the season, and it was clear early that the Lions would have to play even better this time to overcome an inspired opponent. With a minute left in the game, the Lions trailed by 5. However, a pair of freshmen, Chase Martin and Colin Smith, knocked down back-to-back three pointers to give the Lions a one-point lead and the eventual victory. In the semi-finals, St. Mark's met a familiar foe this season in DeSoto, who had already defeated the Lions twice earlier in the season. This time, St. Mark's played motivated basketball from the jump. Sophomore Harrison Ingram notched 17 points, double digit rebounds, and several assists in the first half. The Lions led by 17 at the half, and despite a late run by DeSoto, the final score remained a 17-point margin in favor of the Lions. That win earned the team a trip to the championship round against Lancaster, the #2 ranked 5A team in Texas. Unfortunately, it seemed that a fifth game in three days took a toll on the squad, as they were unable to hoist the 1st-place trophy. Ingram, along with junior Andrew Laczkowski, earned All-Tournament team honors. On January 4, St. Mark's hosted Lovejoy. St. Mark's jumped out to another fast start. A 15-point halftime lead was expanded with back-to-back threes to start the second half by senior guard Austin Nadalini and freshman guard Noah Shelby. Lovejoy cut the lead to five early in the fourth quarter and seemed to have all the momentum. Fortunately, Laczkowski and Ingram took over late, and ultimately secured a 12-point win. The following Tuesday, St. Mark’s traveled to Bishop Lynch. St. Mark's defense set the tone by limiting the Friars to one of their lowest scoring totals of the season. And on offense, 11 of 22 sharp-shooting from behind the 3-point arc and a number of highlight reel plays at the rim spurred the Lions to a gritty double-digit road victory (73-61) in a hostile environment. This past Friday, St. Mark's hosted Heritage Christian out of Joshua, TX. The Lions came out firing with 9 made three-point baskets in the first quarter and never slowed down on their way to winning 112-71. Seven Marksmen finished in double-figures: Smith (20 points), Ingram (15), Shelby (15), Martin (12), Laczkowski (12), sophomore Jake Laufenberg (11), and junior Taylor Hopkin (10). Even more impressive than the evenly-distributed scoring was the number of 3's made by the Lions, 31. Each of the 10 players available for the game made at least one (in addition to players listed above, junior Aaron Thorne, senior Dylan Osimetha, and Nadalini and also connected from downtown). The team effort lands St. Mark's in the record books. According to online records posted by the National Federation of High Schools, 31 made three-pointers ranks 4th all-time nationally and 1st among Texas teams. The Lions open SPC play this week on the road at Greenhill on Tuesday (6:30 pm) and at Ft. Worth Country Day on Friday (7:30 pm).

Swimming
The varsity swim team traveled to Southlake on January 10th and had a good showing against a Dragon team that has won multiple 6A State Championships. Most of the Lion swimmers posted personal best times. In the individual events, sophomores Ryan Park and David Yang came in 1st and 2nd in the 200 Free, junior David Li took 3rd in 200 IM, senior Mark Weisberg finished 2nd in 50 Free, senior Robert Newman came 2nd in 100 Fly, junior Paul Sullivan was 3rd in 100 Free, freshman Nicolas Gomez won the 100 Back, and junior Sean Zhao won the 100 Breast. The 200 Free Relay of Gomez, Weisberg, Li, and Newman finished 3rd. On Friday night, the Lions hosted Bishop Lynch. In a dominant performance, the Lions won the meet 106 to 64, winning 8 out of the 11 events. This week, the swim team travels to Highland Park on Tuesday for a 5:30 pm start and then to Greenhill on Thursday for a 6 pm start.