The sport of lacrosse keeps growing in South County San Diego at all levels, high school included. This year, four Metro Conference teams qualified to compete in the San Diego Section divisional playoffs and, for the first time, three of those squads strode off the field with first-round victories.
Mesa League champion Eastlake, seeded sixth in the Division I bracket, scored a 9-8 overtime win over 11th-seeded Carlsbad on May 19 while Olympian and Bonita Vista both picked up first-round victories as the Division II playoffs started on May 20.
Olympian, seeded sixth, defeated visiting Monte Vista, 12-7, while Bonita Vista, seeded seventh, topped newly crowned South Bay League champion Mar Vista, 2-1, in a game played in Imperial Beach.
The playoff wins for Eastlake and Olympian were the second in school history for both teams and built on first-round victories in last year’s playoffs.
The playoff win was the first in school history for Bonita Vista.
Eastlake, Olympian and Bonita Vista all advanced to the quarterfinal round in their respective divisions — and ended their seasons there with losses to higher-seeded teams.
Eastlake ended its season at 14-5 following a 9-3 loss at third-seeded La Costa Canyon on May 22. The Mavericks (14-9) burst out to a decisive 7-0 halftime lead, and led, 8-1, entering the fourth quarter to claim the win.
Olympian (11-11) ended its season on May 23 with a 13-5 loss at third-seeded Helix (12-7) while Bonita Vista (10-10) saw its season end also on May 23 with a 19-2 loss at second-seeded Fallbrook (18-3).
The division championships took place May 30 at Granite Hills High School. There was a lot of parity exhibited in the three divisional finals.
In the Open Division title game, second-seeded Poway (18-6-1) edged eighth-seeded Torrey Pines (14-8) by a score of 9-8.
In the Division I championship game, LCC defeated fourth-seeded Bishop’s (11-9) by a score of 5-2.
In the Division II final, top-seeded Mt. Carmel (14-6) defeated second-seeded Fallbrook 9-5.
Fantastic finish
Eastlake entered its Division I opener riding a streak of 10 consecutive wins, including the final eight in league play. Carlsbad entered the game with a 6-10 record after placing third in the Avocado West League standings with a 2-4 record (behind league champion Torrey Pines and runner-up La Costa Canyon).
Thus, the first-round match-up between the host Titans and Lancers appeared to be a battle between the best team from South County and a team from the extremely competitive North County area — the San Diego region’s lacrosse hot spot.
It didn’t disappoint.
Eastlake scored to force the game into overtime and then won the playoff match-up in dramatic fashion on a goal 10 seconds into the extra period.
Kaleb Cordova, a senior defender/midfielder, scored the game-winner while senior attackman/midfielder Jordan Vicente supplied the crucial game-trying goal.
Cordova’s OT winner came off a restart after a pushing call was whistled by the officials on the opening face-off.
“Kaleb quickly picked up the ball and refs whistled start,” EHS coach Nestor Rosas explained. “Carlsbad didn’t defend fast enough and left a hole straight to the goal. Kaleb stepped in and fired a bounce shot far post.”
Vicente led the Titans with five goals and one assist in the game. He led all Eastlake players with 17 shots. The Titans, as a team, generated 38 shots.
Senior Chase Morris contributed a goal and assist while sophomore Paris Delgado, senior Michael Kohler and Cordova each scored one goal.
Senior Santiago Andujo led the Titans defensively with six ground balls while senior Christian Haffner collected five ground balls. Junior Christopher Olueya won 10 of 14 face-offs. Sophomore Nathan McPeak made nine saves while allowing eight goals.
The teams were knotted at two goals apiece after the first quarter and at four goals apiece at halftime. Eastlake took a 7-6 lead into the fourth quarter but was outscored 2-0 to trail 8-7 before Vicente scored his team’s lone goal of the quarter to send the contest into overtime.
Vicente topped the Eastlake scoring chart entering the final game of the season with 53 goals and 73 points while Morris ranked second on the team with 31 goals and 46 points.
Haffner led the three-time defending Mesa League champions with 150 ground balls.
Vicente earned honors as this year’s Mesa League Player of the Year. He became a two-time player of the year in the league after also earning the honor last season.
Vicente was among four first team all-league selections for the Titans, joining Morris, Haffner and McPeak.
Second team all-league picks for Eastlake included defensive poles Ronnie Sallee, Andujo and Angelo Abante — all seniors who contributed to the Titans’ recording the section’s top point-scoring defense during the regular season.
Soaring Eagles
Olympian and Monte Vista were engaged in another close contest through the first three quarters of their playoff opener before the host Eagles pulled away with a 4-0 scoring edge in the fourth quarter.
“We were actually down 5-2 at one point in the first half before coming back to tie the game, 5-5, and then take a 6-5 lead at halftime,” OHS coach Keith Quigley explained. “The second half we played like we should have been playing the whole game. We opened it up a bit but Monte Vista hung around.”
Anthony Hughes paced the Eagles with seven goals in the game while Alex Medina scored four goals and Carlo Reyes contributed a goal and assist. Dennis Rich and Kennedy Furst each tallied one assist. Defensive leaders included Rich with 10 ground balls while Kent Ozaki collected nine ground balls and Tyler Santini had eight ground balls.
J.C. Madrid stopped 11 of 18 Monte Vista shots.
“My goalie had an amazing game,” Quigley noted.
Hughes and Santini were both picked to represent Olympian in the San Diego Senior All-Star Game June 6 at Del Norte High School.
The significance of this year’s playoff win was not lost on Quigley, the team’s founding coach.
“This is a third-year program,” Quigley related. “We set a goal to get into the playoffs for the second consecutive year. It’s very positive for the team to reach those goals.”
Medina led Olympian with three goals while Hughes scored twice in the playoff loss at Helix. Hughes led the team defensively with nine ground balls and also won five of seven face-offs.
Madrid allowed 13 goals but made 16 saves in the game.
On the season, Hughes led Olympian with 90 goals and 119 points, followed by Medina with 42 goals and 55 points. Santini led the team defensively with 140 ground balls, followed by Rich with 114 ground balls and Hughes with 112 ground balls.
The Eagles’ first team all-league selections included seniors Hughes and Madrid and junior Santini. Second team all-league picks included Medina and Reyes, both seniors.
Metro match-up
Bonita Vista scored two goals in the opening quarter and made them stand up in edging host Mar Vista, which tallied its lone goal in the fourth quarter. Simon Tang and Henry Wong each scored one goal for the Barons, with one assist going to Frank Rodriguez.
Bonita Vista tallied 22 shots in the game, including a team-high eight by Jason Bergado. However, the Barons stood out defensively on the pitch with 49 ground balls. Michael Lopez and Tang led the team each with six ground balls while Xavier Jones had five ground balls. The defensive effort was spread around with 18 players fielding at least one ground ball.
BV goalie Dan Chier stopped 15 of 16 Mar Vista shots.
The Barons’ trip to Fallbrook was less successful, particularly in the defensive department.
The 10th-seeded Mariners, who captured their first South Bay League championship with a perfect 6-0 league record, finished the season 12-9 overall.
It was a major turnaround for Mar Vista, which finished 2-12 in 2014.
“We took last season as a big prep on what we could do this season,” explained MVHS coach Manny Buenrostro, who also serves as the Imperial Beach school’s roller hockey coach. “It was not about wins but more about team camaraderie. We wanted to build a team where everyone would fight for each other.
“Our camaraderie makes up for what we might lack in experience.”
Roller hockey standout Eloy Rodriguez finished as one of the Mariners’ scoring leaders this season.
