CdM falls short in section title game
PLACENTIA — The Corona del Mar High boys’ lacrosse team typically doesn’t schedule games with teams from the Los Angeles area during the year.
After the Sea Kings played Los Angeles Loyola on Saturday, Coach G.W. Mix said they are going to take a hard look at adding LA teams to their schedule going forward. The reason for that is due to Loyola, not CdM, clearly being the better team in the U.S. Lacrosse Southern Section final.
The Cubs opened the year edging defending section champion St. Margaret’s, and 11 weeks later, they closed things out by defeating CdM, 10-6, to win the section title at Valencia High.
Loyola became the first U.S Lacrosse Southern Section North Division champion to claim the section crown. In the previous nine section finals, an Orange County team prevailed, including CdM four years ago.
“Thanks for reminding me about that,” Mix said with a grin when a reporter brought up that OC’s winning streak ended in the big game. “So I’m the guy [who lost it for Orange County for the first time]. I’m the guy. I’m going to go down in history as that guy. No, I mean, look, that’s bound to happen sooner or later, right? Lacrosse is getting better and better all over California.”
Loyola (20-4) has definitely improved, and it looked like the more physical and athletic team. Gaining possession is normally troublesome for teams against CdM (20-2) because of Jason Simaan, a Brown University-bound faceoff specialist.
Aidan Hesse, a sophomore, made Simaan, a senior, work. Simaan won 12 of 21 faceoffs, a win for any team facing Simaan, who won 68% of his draws in the previous four rounds in the postseason.
When Hesse wasn’t on the winning side, Loyola goalie Joe Theur kept turning away the Sea Kings. Theur limited CdM to a season-low six goals, and the Sea Kings’ struggles might have had something to do with their last game. They went in the afternoon matchup with Loyola coming off a hard-fought and emotional 11-9 win against St. Margaret’s in the U.S. Lacrosse Southern Section South Division championship game at Trabuco Hills High on Wednesday.
“They’re a damn good team,” Mix said of the Cubs. “We knew that coming in. They’re very athletic. They did a great job today. They were clearly the better team today. I think you know what we had to do to get here from Wednesday night. That was my biggest concern coming in. We knew how athletic they were and we knew how hard we had to work on Wednesday night. It’s not to say that they didn’t have work to do [in their 7-6 overtime win against Palos Verdes in the North Division final], but I don’t think they nearly had the work to do that we did. It showed. We were a half step slower than we normally are.”
Nevertheless, it was CdM getting off to a fast start.
Just like in the South Division final, the opening faceoff went to Simaan, and once again, the Sea Kings scored right away. Jordan Greenhall set Sachin Gokhale’s goal up, coming right in front of Theur.
Almost 2½ minutes later, Loyola answered. Sean Smith, who scored the game-winning goal in the Cubs’ victory against Palos Verdes, beat goalie Nick Guizan.
The Sea Kings managed to break the tie with 61 seconds remaining in the opening quarter. Greenhall recorded his second assist, this one from behind the goal. He found Stephen Von Der Ahe, who put CdM up, 2-1.
The late goal didn’t give CdM the momentum going into the second quarter. The second belonged to Loyola, which produced the first three goals in the quarter.
Garrett Smith scored 70 seconds into the second quarter, and after Hesse won the draw, he raced toward the goal and found the back of the net nine seconds later. The third goal went to Maryland-commit Rider Mora, as the Cubs went ahead, 4-2, with a little less than eight minutes left in the first half.
Eric Fries’ goal cut CdM’s deficit to one, and then Loyola tried to run away with the game. Jonathan Partamian, a junior committed to Syracuse, scored two straight goals, extending the Cubs lead to 6-3, their biggest in the first half.
The last time the Sea Kings trailed by three goals was on March 29, when St. Margaret’s scored the first three goals at CdM. The Sea Kings stormed back in that one and took a one-goal lead into halftime.
The best CdM could do against Loyola before the break was get within two goals. Late in the first half, Greenhall ripped a shot to trim the Cubs lead to 6-4.
Each time CdM got closer, 6-5 on Von Der Ahe’s second goal early in the third quarter, Loyola responded. The Cubs reeled off three goals in a row, Henry Hasenberg scored first and Mason O’Hanlon provided the next two.
The Sea Kings couldn’t string together goals in a quarter. In the final 12 minutes, only Loyola scored. Smith’s second goal, tying him for the team lead, put away CdM with around 7½ minutes left. The Cubs were on their way to making history.
“We feel good about that,” said Loyola Coach Seth Cohen, who is only losing six seniors to graduation, compared to 10 for CdM. “We feel good to represent Los Angeles. I think the whole area is growing.”
The Sea Kings found out how much on Saturday.
