RSS
Home
Foothill boys lacrosse wins third straight title, 10-7 over Loyola
Print
Email
RSS
Subscribe
The Foothill High-Santa Ana lacrosse team has made a habit out of coming from behind to win playoff games. At the Southern Section championship game on May 15, Foothill got the getting-from-behind part out of the way early.
Foothill scored six straight times in the game’s first 15 minutes, turning a 2-0 deficit into a 6-2 lead that it held onto against the previously-undefeated Cubs of Loyola. When it was over, Foothill had won 10-7, and celebrated its third consecutive Southern Section championship.
“I can’t believe this,” said senior Chris Cole, who scored two goals and added two assists. “I’ve been waiting my whole life for this, to have a postgame interview after a championship, and now I’m speechless!”
Cole wasn’t speechless for long: he went on to thank his teammates, his coaches, and former teammates who had already graduated--many of whom he said he’d been playing with since seventh grade.
Foothill head coach Jon Fox agreed that a lot of different people played a major part in the team’s victory.
“Everybody did their job,” Fox said. “I’m most proud of this group of seniors; they worked really hard and came through for each other.”
Seniors like Chris Cole played a big part for Foothill, but so did underclassmen, notably Chris’ little brother Cameron. The younger Cole scored four times to lead the championship effort.
“Corona Del Mar was the hardest part,” Cameron Cole said, referring to his team’s Tuesday win in the Orange County title game. “We didn’t even know anything about (Loyola); we had thought we were going to play Palos Verdes or Mira Costa.”
Indeed, Loyola crashed the championship game by putting together an undefeated season, until Friday night. Afterward, head coach Matt Lewis was frustrated to see the championship slip from his team’s grasp.
“I think they’re disappointed,” he said of his players. “This was not our best game. We had a three-minute non-releasable penalty at the start of the second quarter (an illegal stick penalty called against the Cubs’ Christian Montanari), and penalties cost us four goals. And we hit a bunch of pipes. We wanted to win it all, and we felt like we had a good chance.”
Fox was equally impressed by Loyola, noting that any undefeated team is a good one, and that the Cubs did hit the post several times, losing a game of inches by ... well, by inches.
At the same time, as Foothill defenseman Tyler Ogata said, his team ultimately did what it had to do to win on Friday.
“Last year we had this super-stacked team; everybody was afraid of us,” Ogata said. “We lost our whole team, and people thought we were not gonna go all the way this year. But we did what we had to do--it’s the best experience in the world, to grow up in this program.”
On defense, Ogata helped keep the Loyola attack on its heals. And when the Cubs did get shots off, they were often thwarted by goalie Nathan Kleponis, who finished with 10 saves.
“They were real quick, very physical,” Kleponis said of the Cubs. “We couldn’t make mistakes clearing the ball, like we did early on when we fell behind. Once we stopped doing that, we started doing better.”
On offense, while Cameron Cole had his usual standout game, the tandem of Chris Cole and Cooper Pickell combined for four consecutive goals to finish off the 6-0 streak--including consecutive goals during which the two players assisted each other.
“”Half the year we’ve been calling each other Shaq and Kobe--from when they were getting along,” Chris Cole said. “He’s been playing with my brother for a long time, but we’ve got a good thing going playing with each other.”
Foothill expanded its lead to 10-4 in the fourth quarter, before a late Loyola run made the score 10-7. Loyola was led by a hat trick from Chris McCormack, and a couple of goals by Peter Willits. Foothill also got a single goal by James Song in the win.
And in the end, Foothill will look more fondly back on this particular game.
Some, seniors like Eddie Dainko, will now remember it from afar. Dainko is headed to college to play in Ithaca, New York. Others, like underclassman Ogata, will remember it while staying closer to home.
“This will feel good for a long time,” Ygota said. “But as soon as this season’s over, then we’ve got to start worrying about next season.”
Indeed, Foothill is in no hurry to give up this championship title. For the second straight year, they have defended it. Three-peat, indeed.
Related Articles:
Add a Comment
