Santa Ana Foothill defeats Palos Verdes

With 25 seniors returning from a team that won the unofficial Southern Section lacrosse championship last season, Santa Ana Foothill had all the pressure to repeat that performance in 2008.

And the Knights did just that Friday night at Mission Viejo Trabuco Hills, where they defeated Palos Verdes, 11-7.

Each was the top-seeded team in its division, as Foothill (18-2) represented Orange County, also known as the South, and Palos Verdes (16-3) the North, which included Los Angeles and Ventura counties.

Although lacrosse is sanctioned by the Southern Section, its championship is not because fewer than 20% of the section’s member schools field teams.

Tyler Brown scored four goals for Foothill. Trent Jones had three goals and an assist, and John Duddridge scored twice. Riley Hales had a goal and two assists, and Chris Cole had a goal.

But it was defense that led to the Knights’ success. Goalkeeper Sam Goings had nine saves, and defenseman Michael Clenshaw locked down Palos Verdes’ leading scorer, Nolan Semel, limiting him to two scores.

“The key to stopping Palos Verdes is stopping Semel,” Foothill Coach Jon Fox said. “In our case, we needed Michael to stop him man-on-man.”

The score could have been more one-sided, but Palos Verdes goalkeeper Matt Schleden did a good job of keeping his team in the game early. He had five saves but was under constant pressure, especially in the first half.

A year ago, also against Palos Verdes, Foothill came from a 5-0 deficit to win, 11-10. This year, it was the Knights’ performance in the early going that proved the difference.

After falling behind, 1-0, Brown scored three unanswered goals in a span of 3 minutes 39 seconds to give Foothill a 3-1 lead it would never relinquish.

“It took us a while to get settled,” said Semel, who didn’t score after the 8:16 mark of the second quarter. “Foothill came out with a little more composure, and that early momentum carried them.”

Clenshaw was named the game’s most valuable player for his performance against Semel. One of Semel’s two goals came when Foothill was short-handed.

Andrew Pandora and Alex Richards also scored two goals apiece for the Sea Kings.

“Clenshaw, Ian Anderson, David Pearson and Eddie Dainko all played great, and they stuck with their man the whole game,” said Foothill goalkeeper Goings, who took a hit to the groin on an assist late in the third quarter on perhaps the biggest play of the match. Goings was still bent over in pain well past the postgame ceremony.

Foothill led at the time, 8-5, but Goings came out of net to about the 35-yard line and made a long pass to Jones, who scored with 10 seconds left in the third quarter. Goings went down, but it was really Palos Verdes that had the wind knocked out of it.

“That was the big one,” Semel said. “The one where the goalie got the assist.”

Goings was nearly pulled from the game but he somehow played on, and it was he who was piled on by teammates at the final horn.

If the Goings-to-Jones score was the biggest of the match, Jones was involved in the second-biggest too, when he helped Foothill seize momentum from Palos Verdes at the end of the first half. He ran right, then reversed with a left-hander from outside that found its mark for a 6-4 lead with 1:18 left in the half.

“That’s probably one of his first outside left-handed shots he has taken all year,” Fox said. “Both those plays were huge.”

In the girls’ championship:

San Juan Capistrano St. Margaret’s 16, Palos Verdes 8 – Lauren Ciccomascolo scored six goals and also had an assist to lead St. Margaret’s to the title at Trabuco Hills.

Mary-Rachel Walsh added four goals, and Anna Maria Carabini and Jackie Marloe each scored twice for the Tartans (17-7), who never trailed. They finished the season with a 12-game winning streak.

Nikki Solaro had three goals and Meaghan Fileti two for Palos Verdes (14-4).

 martin.henderson@latimes.com