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Falling prey to a dreaded trap game looked entirely possible for Christ School varsity lacrosse on Thursday, at least for the better part of the first quarter.
Some of the Greenies’ most reliable scorers were not having any of that.
Nate Wilberding ’25 (four goals) and University of Denver recruit Caden Paradine ’25 (three) combined for half the team’s goals in a 14-6 home win over Charlotte Latin.
The score was only 2-0 after the opening quarter before Christ School (5-3) settled down and started breaking it open behind Nate, Caden, Queens recruit Parker Beiland ’24 (two goals), R.J. Fox ’25 (two), and Bowen Scheurer ’26 (two).
Rutgers recruit Hunter Sanford ’25 was on the run when he uncorked a pole goal at the 9:50 mark of the third quarter that made the score 7-2 at the time. Three quick goals from Nate, Caden, and Parker increased the lead to double digits over the Hawks (3-5) early in the fourth quarter and the Greenies were able to start subbing in reserves.
“I think when you have the end of the year in sight, when you have playoffs, when you have these rival opponents in big games, it’s easy to fall into a trap game mentality,” Greenies coach Patrick Haley said.
“And we struggled with that in the first quarter, the first half, but luckily were able to dial in and play Christ School lacrosse in the second half. It was by no means perfect, but we came into this game really wanting to work on a few specific things and we did a good job of what we were trying to do in the second half. We saw glimpses of that and hopefully it translates into the games we have coming up.”
Next up for Christ School is one of its biggest tests of the season – a noon game Saturday at undefeated Charlotte Catholic (12-0), as part of the ninth annual Champions Challenge. The Cougars are No. 1 in the latest North Carolina all-classes rankings from HighSchoolOT. The Greenies are fourth.
“Anytime you can play the No. 1 team in the state, it’s a big game,” Coach Haley said.
“We haven’t gotten to play them in a few years. It should just be fun all-around. I’m sure the boys will be up for it.”