CdM claims OC title
MISSION VIEJO — At the end of the first, second and third quarters, the Corona del Mar High boys’ lacrosse team kept allowing St. Margaret’s back in it. The Tartans emphatically closed out those quarters, scoring the last two goals each time.
In the first and second quarters, St. Margaret’s caught CdM each time. Then late in the third quarter, the Tartans surpassed the Sea Kings, taking a one-goal lead into the fourth. At that moment, assistant coach Tim Cassi said something to CdM goalie Nick Guizan that really struck him.
“He just looked at me and he said, ‘I know you can do it. Step to the ball, correct what you’re doing wrong, just do what we practice and we’ll win the game,’” Guizan said.
Guizan made the necessary adjustments and he prevented the Tartans from scoring in the fourth quarter. The quarter that mattered the most is the one the Sea Kings owned against the program that had owned CdM in the Orange County playoffs.
The Sea Kings finally beat St. Margaret’s in the postseason, and it came on the biggest stage in the county, the U.S. Lacrosse Southern Section South Division finale at Trabuco Hills High on Wednesday. Top-seeded CdM rallied for an 11-9 win, ending a three-game losing streak in the playoffs to the Tartans.
The only goals scored in the final 12 minutes belonged to Jordan Greenhall, who tied it with 5:10 left to play, then 24 seconds later, he found the back of the net to give CdM a 10-9 lead, and Will Favreau. Greenhall and Favreau finished with four goals apiece, and Favreau’s final goal with 1:57 to go gave the Sea Kings a two-goal lead.
The rest of the way, Guizan turned away two key shots by No. 3 St. Margaret’s, sealing the Sea Kings’ first OC title in four years. How were the Sea Kings (20-1) able to blank the Tartans (12-8) down the stretch of the fourth, after they roared back in the first, second and third quarters?
“We just knew that it could’ve been our last quarter of the season,” Greenhall said. “We had to go all out.”
Greenhall and the Sea Kings haven’t forgotten how St. Margaret’s ruined CdM’s perfect season a year ago, eliminating the Sea Kings in the semifinals. Three years ago, the Tartans also prevented CdM from winning back-to-back county titles.
The fourth meeting in the playoffs between the Sea Kings and Tartans went to CdM. The Sea Kings changed their losing ways to the Tartans.
In what turned out to be a back-and-forth battle featuring seven ties, CdM outlasted the defending OC champion and advanced to the U.S. Lacrosse Southern Section finals. The Sea Kings play Los Angeles Loyola (19-4) at Valencia High on Saturday at 1 p.m.
Going into the final quarter, it seemed like St. Margaret’s had the momentum. Nicholas Shanks, who had three goals, and Samuel Harnisch each scored a goal during an 80-second span late in the third quarter, putting the Tartans ahead, 9-8.
St. Margaret’s looked to return to the U.S. Lacrosse Southern Section championship game for the second straight year to see Loyola, which knocked off Palos Verdes, 7-6, in overtime of the U.S. Lacrosse Southern Section North Division final at Manhattan Beach Mira Costa High on Wednesday. The Tartans and Cubs opened the season together, but they won’t wrap it up against each other because of CdM.
The Sea Kings received contributions from Ryan Meckler, who earned the South Division MVP award, faceoff specialist Jason Simaan, who won 10 of 23 faceoffs and had an assist, and Stephen Von Der Ahe, who scored two goals and assisted on the go-ahead goal in the fourth.
When Von Der Ahe and Greenhall hooked up to make it 10-9 CdM, it marked the fifth time the Sea Kings regained the lead. This time, they put St. Margaret’s away, as Guizan finished with five saves. The favorable result against the Tartans meant a lot to CdM.
“Believe me, we were thinking about that a little bit, at least I was,” CdM Coach G.W. Mix said of the Sea Kings’ playoff losing skid to St. Margaret’s. “As dear friends as [St. Margaret’s Coach] Glen [Miles] and I are, you know, it’s nice to get back on the even side of things a little bit.”
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