The high school lacrosse season — both boys and girls — appears to be heading to a terrific close for local squads.
The Mesa League boys championship appears up for grabs, possibly in the final game of regular season play, while two league champions could be crowned on the girls side due to a combination of two leagues into one for competition purposes.
The Eastlake Titans appear to be the front-runners in both gender fields. Eastlake’s girls team, which improved to 7-0 in league play following Monday’s 14-0 win over San Ysidro, improved to 11-2 overall following Wednesday’s non-league victory against Sage Creek.
The Titan ladies have been absolutely dominant in league play with lopsided results against Hilltop (14-1 and 13-2), Castle Park (12-2), Mater Dei Catholic (22-0), Bonita Vista (15-3) and Olympian (16-7).
First-year coach and EHS alumna Julia Masias said she is honored to take lead of the team from the late Robert Blas, a teaching and coaching icon at the school who died unexpectedly in February 2020.
“It’s great to carry on coach Blas’ legacy,” Masias said. “He was my first lacrosse coach. It feels great to be involved in something that he was a part of and keep it going.
“We want to compete for league and, if we’re good enough, to be in the CIF playoffs and see how it goes.”
On the boys side, the Titans defeated host Hilltop, 14-1, on Monday and followed that up with a 16-2 win over Mater Dei Catholic on Wednesday to improve to 4-0 in league play, 8-5overall.
Meanwhile, the Bonita Vista Barons remained within striking distance of Eastlake after topping visiting Olympian, 14-1, on Monday and host Hilltop, 14-2, on Wednesday to improve to 6-1 in league play, 8-3 overall.
The Barons lost a tight 8-6 decision at Eastlake on May 5 and host the Titans in a rematch this coming Wednesday (May 19) that could forge a tie between the teams atop the league standings.
Photos by Phillip Brents – Olympian at Bonita Vista, May 10
Bonita Vista started the aborted 2020 season 5-2 with no resolution to what could have been.
“We have some guys coming back but we lost a lot of seniors last year,” BVHS coach Peter Locke said. “We still have a very young team. We’ve had a really talented freshman come in, Caden Ada, and have a really really talented sophomore, Dante Herrero. We have our senior, Justin Locke, who’s having a great season.”
Herrero paced the Barons with six goals in Monday’s game while adding an assist and recording eight ground balls on defense.
Junior Leo Zepeda collected three goals, two assists and six ground balls while Ada had two goals, one assist and five ground balls.
Justin Locke had one goal, four assists and 11 ground balls.
Zepeda led the Barons with eight ground balls and six goals on Wednesday while Locke notched 12 ground balls, three assists and three goals.
Senior Gabe Mata had six ground balls and three goals while Ada had five ground balls, two assists and two goals.
Olympian, which won the 2019 South Bay League championship, was folded into the Mesa League schedule as the lone South Bay League team able to compete this spring.
The Eagles faced off the season 0-9 before capturing back-to-back non-league decisions against Serra (5-4 on May 5) and Mira Mesa (10-6 on May 7). Olympian fell to 0-6 in league play, 2-10 overall, following Monday’s loss at Bonita Vista.
“It was a long time coming,” OHS coach Keith Quigley said. “We started 0-9 but we’ve been working hard all season. We were really excited to get a couple wins.”
Eastlake is ranked 25th among the section’s 57 boys teams, followed by Bonita Vista at 29th.
Torrey Pines (5-2), La Costa Canyon (10-1), Cathedral Catholic (9-1) and Grossmont (10-2) are the section’s top four-ranked teams.
The Titans are ranked 29th among the section’s 59 girls teams while Olympian (7-2) is ranked 37th.
The four top-ranked girls teams include Scripps Ranch (15-1), Canyon Crest Academy (5-8), San Dieguito Academy (7-2) and Bishop’s (5-6).
Photos by Phillip Brents
CIF SOCCER
The San Diego Section playoffs are slated to kick off May 18-29. Several South County teams look to be seeded high in the upcoming divisional field based on regular season rankings.
Eastlake (14-0-1) is ranked second among Division II boys teams while Mater Dei Catholic (7-3) is ranked first among Division III boys teams. Olympian (10-2-2) is ranked first among Division IV boys teams. Bonita Vista (11-1) is ranked first among Division II girls teams while San Ysidro (10-2-2) is first in Division IV.
Mesa League boys soccer play wrapped up Thursday (May 13) with the Southwest Raiders defeating the host Bonita Vista Barons, 2-0, and the Eastlake Titans edged visiting Hilltop 2-1.
With the results, Eastlake completed an undefeated season with a 15-0-1 overall record, 11-0-1 in league play, to claim the league championship while Southwest (8-3-4) finished second in the league standings with a 7-2-3 record.
Junior Cole Friesen topped the Titan juggernaut with 17 goals and 10 assists in 16 games to pace league scorers with 44 points. Southwest senior Xavier Monge followed with 18 goals and 36 points in second place.
Eastlake outscored its opponents 50-8 this season, recording 10 defensive shutouts.
Senior Mizeal Gonzalez and junior Alex Rovira finished in a tie for second place on the team with five goals scored and 12 total points.
Seniors Anree Bogart and Cristian Medina, along with junior Eduardo Gurrola, shared goalkeeping duties this season. The trio combined to yield just eight goals in 16 matches for a 0.50 goals-against average.
The Titans kicked off the season with five consecutive shutout wins.
Eastlake recorded 29 shots in Thursday’s final regular season game against the Lancers (1-9-2 in South Bay League play, 1-10-3 overall). Friesen scored both goals while Bogart and Medina split time in the net.
Raider Nation
Monge scored both goals in Thursday’s victory against Bonita Vista, which finished regular season play 6-11-3 overall, 3-8-1 in league play.
The Raiders ended the regular season riding the crest of a wave that includes a 10-match unbeaten streak (six wins and four ties). Southwest last lost on the pitch, 4-2 to Eastlake, on April 6. The Raiders’ resurgence was displayed in a 0-0 draw against the Titans on April 29.
“It’s pretty crazy because what’s taking place this season,” first-year Southwest coach Victor Andrade said. “We have a lot of sophomores; the talent is there. We keep going. I’m super proud of the boys.”
San Ysidro (6-4-2 overall) finished third in Mesa League play with a 5-3-1 league record, followed by Montgomery (4-6-3 overall) at 4-5-3 in league. Castle Park (2-9-2 overall) finished sixth in the league standings at 2-8-2.
