Loss doesn’t take away from St. Francis lacrosse’s historic season

While the playoff result was certainly much different than coach Geoffrey Watson had hoped for, there was at least an appreciation of history for the St. Francis High lacrosse team.

In their first-ever postseason appearance, the visiting No. 15-ranked Golden Knights were defeated by second-seeded Mission League rival Loyal, 21-2, in the first round of the United States Lacrosse Southern Section Los Angeles Division I playoffs.

With the victory, the Cubs (16-4) earned advancement to the quarterfinals on Thursday against No. 10 Thacher or No. 7 Oaks Christian.

On the other side, the Golden Knights closed out the program’s fourth season with a 9-9 record and a trip to the playoffs.

“It’s been a great season and I think we succeeded beyond our expectations,” Watson said. “We had a great group of captains, a great group of seniors and we were able to surprise this year.”

Unfortunately for the Golden Knights, they ran into a squad ready for any surprises, as Loyola finished an 8-0 run through league that included wins of 20-3 and 16-4 versus St. Francis.

This time around, the host Cubs ran out to an 8-0 lead after one quarter and never looked back.

“I think it was Loyola’s best effort against us this year and they came out shooting extremely well out of the gate,” Watson said. “We were shell-shocked. If there was one word to describe it, I would say blitzkrieg.”

Senior Evan Swayne and junior Harvey Hagan accounted for the Golden Knights’ scores.

With a squad that included nine seniors, perhaps it would be easy to conclude that St. Francis may be due for a down year in 2017.

Watson, though, would dispute that estimation.

“I think we feel real good about next year,” he said. “We’re losing some big seniors like Evan and Michael [Guida], but we brought up like 6-7 freshmen this year and we’re excited. I think the future looks bright.”