chool boys lacrosse team may still be looking to claim its first playoff victory, the Barons proved they belong somewhere in the top half of this year’s San Diego Section Division II field after defeating the host Hilltop Lancers by an 8-3 score in the division rivals’ Mesa League opener on Monday.
However, BVHS coach Sam Cardenas is quick to point out his team, which raised its record to 5-4 on the season, still needs a lot of work if it is to contend for a top seed in May’s division championship playoffs.
“We left a lot of potential goals on the field,” Cardenas said matter-of-factly after Monday’s win. “We did everything in spurts. We could have done better.”
Bonita Vista scored high marks from Cardenas in building a 3-0 first-quarter lead on the Lancers (5-5). However, the teams traded goals in the next two quarters as the visitors took a 5-2 lead into the final quarter.
The Barons won the fourth quarter by a 3-1 margin, though two goals came in the final 1:11 of the contest.
Hilltop fought back to trail by margins of 4-2 and 6-3 prior to the Barons’ final surge.
“Two or three games ago, I thought we might have been playing better,” the BVHS coach explained. “We just haven’t put together a complete game yet. We’ve managed to play well in spots and not so well in spots. We’ve got to work better on what we’re doing.”
Simon Tang, Diego Cervantes and Jason Bergado each scored goals to stake the Barons to a three-goal bulge on the scoreboard. Frank Rodriguez assisted Tang’s goal while Victor Escovedo drew the assist on Cervantes’ goal.
Hilltop’s Kinton Borja made it 3-1 to start the second quarter. But Nathan Adam returned the visitors to their three-goal lead when he scored with 59 seconds left in the quarter.
Again, the Lancers scored first to start the third quarter to halve the Barons’ lead. But Cervantes scored an unassisted goal and Rodriguez, assisted by Billy Ray Esparza, added a goal to push Bonita Vista out in front 6-2.
But Borja scored his second goal of the game as Hilltop once again fought back. The final result took on more of a lopsided edge when Tang scored with 1:11 to play and Rodriguez tacked on another goal with 56 seconds remaining in the game.
Dan Chier finished the match with nine saves while the Lancer tandem of Andres Corrales (seven saves) and Roberto Corrales (three saves) combined for 10 stops.
Making up ground
Bonita Vista has lost to division rivals Helix (10-7 on March 14), San Dieguito Academy (10-9 on March 16), Mt. Carmel (16-5 on March 21) and Del Norte (11-3 last Saturday).
Besides Hilltop, the Barons have also scored wins over division rivals Monte Vista (10-3 on March 9), Valhalla (5-4 in overtime on March 18), Mar Vista (8-1 on March 23) and Santana (14-2 on April 7).
Helix (7-2) is currently at the top of the division power rankings, followed by Mt. Carmel (6-3).
Monday’s game against the Lancers was the first of eight league contests. The Barons will mix in a pair of key non-league games against division rivals Preuss UCSD (5-4) and Point Loma (6-4) before the end of regular season play.
Bonita Vista and Mesa League rival Olympian will square off in a pivotal pair of match-ups with important divisional implications.
“The rest of our schedule will feature Division I teams (Eastlake and Otay Ranch),” Cardenas noted.
The BVHS coach was pleased how his team was able to rebound from the previous loss to Del Norte. “We’ve got a lot of little things to correct, but we showed some good hustle,” Cardenas said.
Hilltop is hovering just above the Division II playoff cut. The Lancers have defeated division rivals Del Lago Academy (9-1 on March 13), Foothills Christian (13-3 on March 17), Santana (16-4 on March 20), Montgomery (5-3 last Friday) and Chula Vista (10-4 last Saturday).
In another Mesa League opener on Monday, Otay Ranch (2-11) picked up its second win of the season by stopping visiting Olympian (4-6) by a score of 10-8. The Mustangs had opened the season 0-11 before picking up their first win — 7-6 over St. Augustine — last Friday. Olympian led early 5-0.
Titans roll to 12-4 win
The Eastlake Titans handed head coach Nestor Rosas his 93rd career victory after drubbing visiting Patrick Henry, 12-4, Monday in non-league play. The Titans, who improved to 5-4 on the season, led 8-2 at halftime.
Michaelangelo Aguirre paced the defending Mesa League champions with four goals and one assist while Jordan Vicente and Chase Morris each collected three goals. Andrew Gisler and Asante Baltazar accounted for the Titans’ two other goals.
Christian Haffner led Eastlake defensively with nine ground balls while Santiago Andujo had six ground balls and Ronnie Sallee had five ground balls. Goalie Nathan McPeak made saves on 10 of 14 Patriot shots.
Eastlake previously handed visiting St. Augustine a 10-1 non-league setback on April 8. Ethan Nacif, Paris Delgado, Evan Farrage and Morris each scored twice in the game while Aguirre had a goal and two assists. Samuel Reyes also scored on goal while Haffner had one assist.
Otay Ranch remains undefeated in league play
While the Otay Ranch High School girls lacrosse team’s bid for an undefeated season ended with an 8-3 non-league loss to visiting San Marcos last Friday, the Lady Mustangs returned to their winning ways by defeating host Mar Vista, 11-5, in Metro Conference play on Monday.
Sophomore Brooke Greene earned honors as Otay Ranch’s player of the game in Monday’s win by scoring four goals on four shots while accumulating 11 wins out of 18 draw attempts and also scooped up four ground balls on defense.
Ariana Perez and Alexa Mata each scored twice against Mar Vista while goalie Carolina Aceves made six saves on nine shots.
The Lady Mustangs improved to 12-1 overall, 6-0 in league play.
