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2009 Prep Lacrosse
San Diego Section

Girls lacrosse
Mustangs, Barons finish tied for first Metro girls title

Posted May 20, 2009
The Metro Conference’s inaugural girls lacrosse season came to an exciting close on Monday — perhaps a lot more exciting than anyone could have imagined at the beginning of the season, particularly the Otay Ranch Mustangs.

Otay Ranch defeated the favored Bonita Vista Barons, 8-7, to secure a league co-championship. The teams finish with identical 9-1 league records.

The Barons had entered Monday’s regular season finale undefeated in league play after topping the Mustangs by a 7-6 score April 27 at Otay Ranch High School.

Otay Ranch co-coaches Adrian Rodriguez and Manny Frutos each received ceremonial dunks from the water cooler after Monday’s game.

“We were up 4-0 but Bonita Vista kept coming back,” Rodriguez said. “This was their home field and they came to play.”
Bonita Vista coach Ernesto Luna, who was gracious in defeat, called Monday’s encounter “a great game.”

“It was almost a repeat of the first game but in reverse,” Luna said. “In the first game, we got out to a good lead and they came back. In this game, they got out to a good lead and we came back. It got pretty exciting at the end.”

Otay Ranch (10-5 overall) blazed out to a 4-0 lead in the game’s opening minutes. Bonita Vista then began to chip away at the imposing deficit, tying the game at 4-all by halftime. But the Mustangs regrouped by scoring the opening three goals of the second half to lead 7-4. The Barons once again answered the challenge by closing the score to 7-6 with 1:52 left in the second half.

Otay Ranch then scored a huge insurance goal with 29 seconds to play to increase its lead to two goals. But Bonita Vista (10-8) once again responded on a goal with 21 seconds left in the game to trim the lead to one goal.

The Barons had a chance to tie the game on a restart in front of the Mustangs’ net in the dying few seconds but were thwarted.

The Otay Ranch co-coaches praised key defensive performances by goalie Krysta Donaldson and defender Jessica Dalafox.

The Mustangs’ offensive attack was once again led by Briana Mannes and Tuyet Cam, who each scored three goals. The pair shares the team scoring lead with 43 goals this season.

For Bonita Vista, Ashley Ada and Laura Ooi were each credited with t
wo goals in Monday’s game.
The Mustangs’ rise to prominence in such a short period of time is an inspirational story itself.

“In just our second year, we’re league co-champions,” Rodriguez said. “I told my girls we had to work three times harder than the other teams because we were a new team.”

“They have just blazed through to get where they are in just two years,” Luna said.

Playoffs
A determination was to be made at Wednesday’s San Diego Section seeding meeting as to the Metro Conference’s first playoff representative. Playoffs for boys and girls teams will include one 16-team division. League champions receive automatic entry.
First-round playoff contests are scheduled to begin Saturday, May 23, followed by quarterfinals on May 26 and semifinals on May 28. The section championship games are scheduled May 30 at Helix Charter High School. The boys final is at 5 p.m., followed by the girls final at 7:30 p.m.

Boys lacrosse
Eastlake, surprise, is Metro’s sole boys champion
Posted May 20, 2009
The Eastlake Titans boys lacrosse team faced a formidable task en route to claiming this year’s Metro Conference championship banner. The Titans dropped their opening league game to defending Metro champion Otay Ranch, needing to win their next nine league match-ups in order to finish with a co-championship with the Mustangs.

Eastlake defeated Otay Ranch in an exciting overtime contest in the teams’ return engagement, thus keeping the Titans on track. Then the task became even more difficult when news from the latest grading period came to light: Eastlake lost its starting goaltender and leading scorer for the balance of the season.

The Titans played short talent-wise for the last two-and-a-half weeks of the regular season, persevering through adversity to win their remaining three league games.

Eastlake made it official with its 11-6 victory against visiting Hilltop on May 14, finishing 9-1 in Metro play and 13-4 overall.

The Titans got an unexpected surprise after the league season was completed: Otay Ranch apparently used an ineligible player in its final league game, thus forfeiting one league contest and, in doing so, handing sole rights to this year’s Metro banner to Eastlake.
An official announcement of the forfeiture was expected in advance of this week’s San Diego Section playoff seeding meeting. The Titans are expected to receive the Metro’s automatic playoff berth in the first round of post-season play on Saturday.

“As soon as we knew we lost those players when grades came out, I was very depressed, as was the rest of the team,” Eastlake coach Nestor Rosas said. “We had lost our rock in goal and somehow had to find a way to replace him. The kids we asked to step up did just that. They played out of their minds.”

Former midfielder Joe Miele took over between the pipes and did a credible job in keying the Titans to its last two Metro wins — 7-5 against visiting Bonita Vista on May 11 and the finale against Hilltop.

“We didn’t lose a game on our home field all year,” Rosas said.

The final two league games had their ups and downs, especially in the opening half. Against Bonita Vista, Eastlake fought back from an early 2-0 deficit and broke a 5-5 tie with the last two goals of the game.

The Titans found themselves in a highly competitive contest with Hilltop early on, leading by just one goal after the opening quarter before taking a 4-2 halftime lead. The Lancers closed to within 4-3 with the first goal of the second half before Eastlake’s offense broke through with a pair of three-goal runs.

The Titans’ core of “super sophomores” carried the team’s offense: Jacob Dempsey, Zach Bannon and Christian Ballow.
In the game against Hilltop, Dempsey scored four goals while Bannon had three goals and Ballow scored twice.

In the second-round match-up against Bonita Vista, Bannon and Dempsey each had two goals.

The Titans received single goals from Bryce Taitano and Adam Belasco in the game against Hilltop while Jerrell Manganlit had two goals and Ballow had one goal in the game against Bonita Vista.

Against Eastlake, Marcus Turner led Hilltop (6-4, 8-11) with four goals while Kyle Cruz and Cameron Freels keyed Bonita Vista (5-5, 8-10) with two goals apiece.

Otay Ranch finished the season 8-2 in league play, 9-10 overall. The Mustangs inarguably played the toughest schedule of any Metro team this season.

Metro Conference 2009 Standings
League Overall
School W-L W-L
Eastlake 9-1, 13-4
Otay Ranch 8-2, 9-10
Hilltop 6-4, 8-11
Bonita Vista 5-5, 8-10
Montgomery 2-8, 5-12
Chula Vista 0-10, 2-18

Boys lacrosse
It’s official — Otay Ranch repeats as Metro champs
Mustangs win no worse than a tie for banner

Posted May 7, 2009
It went down to the very last league game of the season for the Otay Ranch High School boys lacrosse team but the Mustangs will take Monday’s 16-2 victory against visiting Hilltop as the official clincher to their second consecutive Metro Conference championship title.

Monday’s win gives Otay Ranch a 9-1 league record — a mark that can only be matched now by the Eastlake Titans should they come up victorious in their remaining three league games. Eastlake improved to 6-1 in Metro play following its 11-9 win at Montgomery on April 30. The Titans were scheduled to host Chula Vista on Thursday and have home matches scheduled against Bonita Vista on May 11 and Hilltop on May 14.

While Eastlake remains in control of its own destiny, the challenge is obviously to win those three games. One loss by the Titans and the 2009 conference banner belongs to Otay Ranch outright.

The 2009 Metro season looks to be one of the most competitive in recent history but looks to finish without one defined championship game.

Otay Ranch and Eastlake split their two league games, with the Mustangs taking the season opener by a 10-8 score and the Titans winning the second match-up, a truly titanic contest that saw Eastlake squeeze out a thrilling 9-8 overtime victory.

The Mustangs followed the April 22 loss to the Titans with a 19-2 win against visiting Chula Vista on April 27 and a come-from-behind 6-3 victory at Bonita Vista on April 30.

The latter game might stand up as the “championship game” for Otay Ranch, as the host Barons had a mathematical chance of vying for this year’s league title with a victory. But the Mustangs broke a 2-2 second half standoff with four consecutive goals to zoom ahead 6-2 and, for all practical purposes, crown themselves no worse than Metro co-champions.

Otay Ranch captured last year’s league title with a perfect 8-0 record.

“We found a way to get it done,” Mustang coach Bill Maeda said. “(Being) Metro champions (this year) is especially meaningful because we had to work our back sides off. Last season we steamrolled the league. This year we had to compete against our opponents and ourselves at the same time,”

Maeda said should Otay Ranch and Eastlake tie with identical 9-1 league records that his team— by virtue of head-to-head scores —would receive the conference’s automatic entry in the section playoffs.

The remaining Metro co-champion will likely sit on the sideline, likely excluded because of competitive reasons for an at-large playoff berth.

With members of Eastlake’s varsity team in attendance along the sideline and uncharacteristically but robustly cheering for the archrival Barons, the Bonita Vista-Otay Ranch second-round meeting had some genuine atmosphere. A sizable crowd didn’t hurt, either.

The Barons took a 1-0 lead on a goal by Cameron Freels midway through the second quarter, assisted by Felipe Cardenas. Otay Ranch’s Alex Castello leveled the score prior to halftime, assisted by teammate Emmanuel Martinez.

The Mustangs took a 2-1 lead on a left-handed shot by freshman Franz Hahn but Bonita Vista’s Steven Contreras broke through the Mustang defense and scored on a point-blank shot to even the score at 2-all.

Otay Ranch scored a total of five goals in the decisive third quarter, including the last four in succession. Martinez scored on a solo break-in to break the deadlock. Colton Wood followed with a goal to make it 4-2 in the visitors' favor and the Mustangs continued to build momentum with goals by Ryan Catabona and Gaige Hopkins.

BV’s Cardenas scored the lone goal in the final quarter.

Baron goalie Willie Reikstins was credited with eight saves while Otay Ranch’s Nathan Maeda had six saves.
The Mustangs out-scored the Barons 5-2 in the second half.

The elder Maeda said his son played the "game of his life."

“We told everybody that their team was just like any other team — that if we scored a few goals that their defense would break down,” said the younger Maeda, one of the team’s senior captains.

“The kids just played a whole game,” Bill Maeda said. “The thing was to get the players to play from the first whistle to the last whistle. We matched (the Barons’) intensity and exceeded it. We had freshmen playing in key positions.We had to rebuild our defense this year. The players we had to replace were important players. I told the team that this victory would be tough and that they could be proud of it.”

Montgomery Aztecs are having break-out season

Posted May 7, 2009
The Montgomery High School boys lacrosse team is having a record-breaking season, no doubt about that.

“We’re doing OK considering where we’ve been in the past,” Aztec head coach Gerald French said after Monday’s 11-8 Metro Conference victory at Chula Vista.

What an understatement.

Monday’s win was the second this season over the Spartans, thus relegating Chula Vista to a last-place finish in the six-team Metro standings this season. French noted the two league wins were a high mark for the program, now in its seventh season.
“This year was the first time we’ve won any league games in a season,” French said.

Montgomery hiked its varsity record to 4-10 overall, including non-league games. The Aztecs, in fact, opened the season with back-to-back wins, defeating University City and Preuss by scores of 7-6 and 10-8, respectively, in non-league competition.
Montgomery defeated Chula Vista, 11-2, in first-round league play.

The Aztecs finished league play 2-8 this season and have a chance to add to their win total with three non-league games remaining on their season schedule, including rematches against UC and Preuss.

Montgomery built an early 6-1 lead on the host Spartans (1-14), only to see Chula Vista rebound to tie the score twice in the third quarter at 6-6 and 7-7. The Aztecs, however, regrouped and zoomed back in front on the strength of three unanswered goals to go up 10-7.

Dakota Colantuano keyed the visitors with eight goals while teammate Gonzalo Guerrero scored three goals. Michael Vera had two assists while Gavin Meyers and Scott Baker each had one assist. Christian Garcia was active in front of the cage with 15 goalie saves.

French attributed the Aztecs’ resurgence to a year-round after-school lacrosse education program sponsored by the 21st Century YMCA.

“We’ve always had trouble recruiting players before for the program,” he said. “This has really gone well for us. Hopefully, with the number of wins we’ve been able to get this season that will make it easier to recruit players from middle school. It’s great to have freshmen players who already know the fundamentals of the game.”

The Spartans, meanwhile, continue through what has become a season-long headache with eligibility programs as the program re-boots itself this season. On a bright note, Bobby Hatchett had four goals for Chula Vista in Monday's game while Kevin Torres scored three goals and Tanner Krestick had one. Spartan goalie Solomon Gil took the spotlight with 21 saves.

Fast and furious — Metro showcases its ‘greatest game’

Posted April 23, 2009
As the sport of boys lacrosse continues to develop in South County, the Metro Conference seems to have its share of “best-ever” games each season. The latest “greatest game” in the series took place Wednesday at Stan Canaris Stadium between the host Eastlake Titans and Otay Ranch Mustangs. It may stand up as the “greatest-ever” game of them all.

“I’m numb. I’m speechless,” said Eastlake coach Nestor Rosas after his Titans grabbed a story-book 9-8 win in overtime to scramble the standings for this year’s league title.

An Otay Ranch assistant coach put it another way: “This game finally put South Bay lacrosse on the map.”
No argument here.

Otay Ranch coach Bill Maeda said his team was in “the driver’s seat” to win its second consecutive Metro title after recording a 6-0 run through its first six league games this season. Included were come-from-behind victories against both Eastlake and Bonita Vista in first-round play.

“Our destiny is up to us,” he said.

A win on Wednesday would have catapulted the Mustangs two games ahead of both the Barons and the Titans in the loss column and, for all practical purposes, handed Otay Ranch this year’s championship banner. As it stands now, there appears to be an all-out race to the championship wire between the three front-runners. With wins in their final league games, Eastlake (5-1 in league, 9-2 overall), Otay Ranch (6-1, 6-7) and Bonita Vista (3-2, 5-6) can each grab at least a share of the 2009 Metro title.

There doesn’t appear to be a favorite at this point.

“We really hadn’t had to fight from behind that much this year, so it’s nice to know that we can win one of those games,” Rosas said.

Everything seemed to be on the Mustangs’ side in the early going, including a 4-0 lead in the game.

“The first game we played them we were down 3-0 and came back to take a lead, so I wasn’t too worried,” the Eastlake coach said. “I thought, ‘OK, here we go again. We can do this.’ But down four goals … It’s unbelievable how much heart these guys have.”

Otay Ranch went up 8-5 on a goal scored with 7:31 remaining in the third quarter. The Mustangs didn’t look like the weaker of the teams and, for the most part, continued to carry territorial play. But when David Santana scored to make it a two-goal game entering the final period, the hosts appeared to pick up the pace a bit and territorial play began to favor the Titans, whose only option was to leave it all out on the field if they still had designs on this year’s Metro banner.

Otay Ranch players were implored in kind by their fans.

The game was fast-paced, physical and memorable for all who participated. This wasn’t a defensive chess game. It was all-out war — at least as played on the lacrosse pitch.

Attackmen raced toward goal on both sides of the field. Midfielders scraped for possession of ground balls. Defenders crunched shooters.

And both goalies — Otay Ranch’s Nathan Maeda and Eastlake’s Eric Santana — came up with game-saving stops — many of them of the sensational variety.

Sophomore Jacob Dempsey gave the hosts a real glimmer of hope when his goal made the score 8-7 with 9:16 to play in regulation. David Santana tied the game at 8-all with 4:39 left.

With the stadium scoreboard not in operation, spectators were left guessing exactly how much time was left in the game, thus making every shot the potential game-winner.

What ensued was a four-minute sudden-death overtime period. Both teams had scoring chances before Eastlake notched the game-winner about halfway through the extra period. Dempsey passed to Christian Ballow, whose OT goal set off a wild on-field celebration for the home team.

“Jacob Dempsey fed me a great ball,” Ballow said. “I was wide open on the back side of the goal.”

David Santana said there was no margin for error in the late stages of the game.

“We knew we had to score and not make any mistakes,” he said. “Almost all our goals were assisted. That’s how we play — as a team.”

Santana led the Titans with four goals while Dempsey and Ballow each had two goals and Zach Bannon scored once.
Otay Ranch took its 4-0 lead on three goals by Colton Wood. The Mustangs led 5-3 after the first quarter and 7-4 at halftime.

Wood led Otay Ranch with four goals and one assist in the game.

Eastlake positioned itself for Wednesday’s showdown game with the Mustangs by escaping with a 3-2 victory at Hilltop on Monday after defeating Bonita Vista, 6-4, the previous Thursday on the Barons’ field. Both Titan wins were crafted in comeback fashion.

Otay Ranch entered Wednesday’s high profile encounter on the heels of 19-3 and 17-3 wins against Montgomery.

David Santana scored the game-winner in Monday’s game as the visiting Titans rebounded from an early 2-1 deficit. Hilltop, which was perhaps playing its finest game of the season so far, owned the territorial advantage throughout the contest. The hosts finished the game with possession of the ball in the Eastlake defensive zone but were unable to size up a shot as time expired.

“We won the game territorially — we just couldn’t put the ball in the net,” Lancer coach Pete Bishop said.

The game was played under extremely warm conditions that may have contributed to a slower pace. Hilltop took advantage of the situation by notching first-half goals by Cameron Tablit and Marcus Turner. Eastlake tied the game in the second period on goals by Jacob Dempsey and Jerrel Manlangit.

Turner and Jeremy Best drew assists on the two Hilltop goals. Bannon assisted on Dempsey’s 1-1 equalizing goal.

Bonita Vista owned as much as a 3-1 lead on the Titans in the teams’ first-round battle on April 16. Zack White, Felipe Cardenas and Kyle Cruz each scored first-half goals for the Barons, who looked to enter the halftime break with a two-goal lead before David Santana scored with 20 seconds left to play to make it a one-goal game at 3-2.

The Titans scored the first three goals of the second half —four unanswered goals overall — to lead 5-3. Dempsey scored all three third-quarter goals for Eastlake, tying the game at 3-3 and then putting his team ahead.

Bonita Vista closed the score to 5-4 in the visitors’ favor when White scored top corner in the dying minutes of the third quarter when the hosts were up a man. Both teams failed to score on man-up situations in the early minutes of the fourth quarter, and Joseph Miele finally put the game away for Eastlake when he scored a big goal against the run of play.

Baron goalie Willie Riekstins finished the game with 11 saves.

“We were standing around on offense in the first half but we started cutting in on their goal in the second half,” Dempsey said. “They played man-to-man defense and that opened it up.”

“Jacob Dempsey had a huge game for us,” Rosas said. “He came into the game averaging three to four goals.”
The sprint to the finish is on in earnest, with Hilltop possibly playing the spoiler role for someone.

Boys Lacrosse
Competition heats up in Bonita Vista-Hilltop rivalry

Posted April 16, 2009
For those present at Monday’s Metro Conference boys lacrosse game pitting the host Hilltop Lancers against the visiting Bonita Vista Barons, they saw just how close the competition is between teams with somewhat disparate records. The Barons won, 7-3, but the score certainly did not reflect the overall competitiveness of the contest.

The game was hotly contested throughout, with the teams separated by just one goal midway through the final quarter.

“It cycles — the caliber of play is good but I don’t think that it’s the best it’s ever been,” Bonita Vista coach Jason Snyder said.
Junior Felipe Cardenas racked up three goals for Bonita Vista, which improved to 2-1 in league play, 4-5 overall, with the victory. He is playing his first year at the varsity level. Junior Kyle Cruz also had three goals while Zack White scored once.

The Barons reeled off three goals in the final 4:25 of the match-up to pull away decisively on the scoreboard.

Hilltop dropped to 1-2 in league play, 2-7 overall. However, the Lancers played the visitors tight, matching them with a first-quarter goal and roaring back from a 2-1 deficit to lead 3-2 at halftime. Marcus Turner led the hosts with two goals while Ben Santos, assisted by Ben Potter, scored once.

The Lancers out-shot the Barons 20-12, with BV goalie Willie Reikstins credited with eight saves.

A turning point in the game came when the Barons were assessed a three-minute penalty for an illegal stick. Similar to a five-minute major penalty in hockey when the team with the man-advantage can score as many goals during the allotted time without the penalized player returning to the field. However, the Lancers were held scoreless during the extended power play and actually gave up a short-handed goal by Cruz to give Bonita Vista a two-goal lead.

“We scored short-handed,” Snyder said. “We had to step up and be ready to go. We just asked our defense to step up. They did.”

The loss was obviously disappointing to Hilltop coach Pete Bishop, whose team seemed poised to pull off an upset win.
“It’s passing and shooting,” Bishop said. “Every game the boys have improved. This was way better than some other games we’ve played recently. When we put it together and are clicking, we’re capable of playing with the best teams.”

Bishop has been the Lancers’ coach since the program’s inception. “Lacrosse is about passing and moving the ball and moving without the ball. It takes times to realize that and it takes a longer time to actually execute it,” he said. “We’ll see those boys (the Barons) again and we’ll see how it goes the second time.”

The Barons continued to chase the defending league champion Otay Ranch Mustangs, who improved to 5-0 in league play following a 19-4 victory against Montgomery on April 9. In that game, Colton Wood scored seven goals. for the Mustangs, who improved to 5-6 overall.

Eastlake defeated visiting Chula Vista, 17-1, on Monday to improve to 2-1 in league play, 6-2 overall.

Girls Lacrosse
Barons top Lancers, 9-4, to stay undefeated in Metro play

Laura Ooi scored four goals and teammates Ashley Ada, Sarah Lim, Elyan Shore, Elise Johnson and Christina Son each scored once to lead the Bonita Vista girls lacrosse team to a 9-4 Metro Conference victory Monday. The win kept the Barons undefeated in league play at 4-0 and improved the team’s overall record to 5-7.

Bonita Vista plays at Eastlake this coming Monday and plays at Otay Ranch on April 27. Both games are scheduled to start at 3 p.m.

Could Metro boys lacrosse title still be up for grabs?

Posted Aoril 9, 2009
The second round of league play should prove very interesting indeed for Metro Conference boys lacrosse teams, particularly for the Eastlake Titans and Bonita Vista Barons.

Both teams dropped narrow decisions to defending league champion Otay Ranch in first-round match-ups. Both teams host the Mustangs — currently sporting an undefeated 4-0 Metro mark — in second-round clashes.

“It could be us or them,” Titan coach Nestor Rosas said following last Friday’s 5-3 non-league victory against visiting Santana. “I hear Bonita Vista’s defense is playing very well. We’ll see when we play them.”

The Barons — 3-5 overall and 1-1 in league play entering spring break — resume play with an April 13 match at Hilltop (1-1, 2-6) and host Eastlake (1-1, 3-1) on April 16.

The Titans get the first crack at Otay Ranch (4-6 overall) in second round play on April 22. Bonita Vista hosts the Mustangs on April 30.

Both Eastlake and the Barons held two-goal leads before eventually succumbing to late rallies by Otay Ranch in first-round games. The Barons were up 2-0 and held a 2-1 lead late in the contest before dropping a 4-3 decision.

The Titans fell, 10-8, to the Mustangs after holding a 6-4 lead at one point late in the second quarter.

“We played Otay Ranch really close,” third-year Bonita Vista coach Jason Snyder said. “If we beat them at home, there’s the possibility we could share the title.”
Snyder has been with the Barons program for five years and has started to establish some consistency there.

“I’ve tried to bring some stability to the program,” he said.

Top returners for Bonita Vista include senior long stick midfielder Chuck Day, a four-year letter-winner, and junior attackman Kyle Cruz. They are joined by senior goalie Willie Riekstins, the team’s other impact player.

“It’s only Willie’s second year playing the sport and he’s made tremendous progress,” Snyder said. “I’d rate him the second best goalie in the league after Otay Ranch’s Nathan Maeda.”

Other top returners this season for the Barons include senior defenseman Giancarlo Buttera, junior attackman Zack White, junior midfielder Steven Contreras and senior attackman Cameron Freels.

Newcomers who hope to impact the team include sophomore midfielder Noah Betz, senior defender Daniel Ruelas and senior midfielder Mohammed Abuamer.

Freels played the goalie position as a sophomore but elected to focus on club water polo his junior year. He now finds himself on the other side of the cage.

“I liked playing goalie but I didn’t want to impede us, as our current goalie was entrenched in his position,” Freels said. “It’s a change of pace. I know the goalie position well. So for an attackman, it’s something I can take advantage of.”

The Barons own non-league victories so far against University City (10-2), Monte Vista (7-0) and Montgomery (11-3). Non-league losses have come against Helix (4-3), Westview (13-4), Fallbrook (12-3) and Foothills Christian (13-9).

Snyder said his team has a good mix of upper classmen and under classmen.

“We’re a senior and junior team,” he said. “We have a dedicated group of seniors. Many of these kids have played with me for three years. They’ve been in our program. They know our expectations.”

Eastlake’s game was nothing short of impressive last Friday, holding the Sultans scoreless in the first half while taking a 3-0 lead.

“We knew they were going to be physical — any East County team plays physical,” Rosas said. “But we want to be physical and technical. We’ve found that technical beats physical.”

Christian Ballow scored twice to key the Titans offense in the first half against Santana (4-7) while David Santana tallied once. Santana and Jacob Dempsey each scored once in the second half, assisted both times by Zach Bannon.

The Sultans posed a challenge with three second-half goals, including two in the third quarter to get back into the game. Garrett Halvax, Trevor Barkheimer and Josh Cypert each scored one goal while Steven Woerner was credited with 11 goalie saves.

By contrast, Eastlake was credited with five goalie saves.

In another game on April 2, Montgomery defeated Chula Vista, 11-2, to record what is believed to be the Aztecs’ first-ever league win.

Foothills Christian Knights searching for respect in boys lacrosse

Posted April 8, 2009
This is Bill Nigh’s fifth year as coach of the Foothills Christian boys lacrosse team. While this year’s squad could be the best-ever in the program’s short history, the Knights find themselves in unfamiliar territory.

They are a team suddenly without a league.

The San Diego Section requires teams to be members of a league to be eligible for playoff competition. Foothills Christian, with a student enrollment of 230, is one of the smallest schools in the section and, as such, is a member of several leagues to accommodate different sports. For example, the Knights participate in the Southern League for football and the Citrus-South League for boys basketball.

At present there is no small schools league for boys lacrosse, meaning that Foothills Christian has had participate as a member of the much larger enrollment Grossmont Conference alongside East County public schools.

But the Grossmont Conference elected not to renew the Knights’ membership in the league this season and the school has had to look elsewhere. Nigh said he thought Foothills Christian would be admitted to the Metro Conference this season. The Knights had the support of South County coaches but a subsequent vote by conference administrators denied the move.

Instead, the Knights are still looking for a suitable host league and have received a year’s waiver in order to do so, thus making them eligible for post-season competition in 2009. However, it will be in an at-large capacity.

League champions are guaranteed playoff berths, and that’s the rub on this year’s Knights squad — Foothills Christian is good enough to win a league title.

“We are David versus Goliath,” Nigh said. “We play teams from schools that have enrollments from 500 to 2,000. We've pulled off a couple of upsets this year and almost got another one.”

Heading into spring break, the Knights owned a 5-5 record playing a completely freelance schedule, though one heavy with East County and South County teams.

Victories this season have come against Granite Hills (11-10 in overtime), San Marcos (10-8), Hilltop (13-6), Chula Vista (15-3) and Bonita Vista (13-9). Losses have been to Patrick Henry (14-12), Santana (10-4), Grossmont (12-8), Scripps Ranch (16-8) and Westview (12-9).

Patrick Henry, Grossmont, Granite Hills, Scripps Ranch and Westview are longtime recognized powers in the section.

The win against Granite Hills was the first-ever between the East County rivals. Nigh proudly points to it as a measuring stick for the program. Last season, the Eagles flew past the Knights by scores of 14-1 and 15-3. Granite Hills swept the series by scores of 19-1 and 20-1 in 2007.

Foothills Christian finished last – 33rd out of 33 teams -- in the section rankings their first season

The Knights resume play with an April 20 game against visiting Montgomery (3-3) and host San Dieguito Academy (5-3) on April 21. Home games are played at Junior Seau Field, located about a half-mile from Grossmont High School.

The boys lacrosse team is one of the first sports to be established at the small private school. It predates the school’s football team by one year. This season's four team captains include Nigh’s son Christopher, a senior attackmen, senior attackman Zac Ivy and senior midfielders John Rodriguez and Gage Provencher.

The elder Nigh also included sophomore goalie John Naple among the team's top players.

“Working in front of a new defense, I've so proud of him,” the Foothills coach said in regard to Naple. “He's working on a 70 percent save ratio”

There are 100 boys at the school — 24 are rostered on the boys lacrosse team. Several standout football players are among them, including All-Southern League First Team picks Provencher and Mattison Rundlett. Quarterback Garrett Campbell, the Knights’ one-man scoring machine and reigning Southern League Offensive Player of the Year, is currently sidelined.

“We started the boys lacrosse team before the school had a football team,” Bill Nigh said. “I wanted the team to be physical -- to play as physically as possible within the rules. It’s taken a few years for us to catch up to that without fielding a JV team.”

The elder Nigh will take a couple more upsets and a berth in the upcoming section playoffs as proof of the program’s worth.

Girls Lacrosse Preview
A league of their own
Girls lacrosse faces off in Metro Conference

Posted April 2, 2009
The Bonita Vista Barons have pioneered the sport of girls lacrosse in the South Bay. Now they finally have some company.
Local competition, that is.

“It’s great for the sport down here,” said second-year Bonita Vista coach Ernesto Luna after his team’s 11-3 win at Hilltop on Monday. “I just hope the other schools can develop JV programs, so they can get better and give the rest of the teams in the county some competition.”

This is the eighth year that Bonita Vista has fielded a team and the third for Hilltop. The first-year Metro Conference also includes Chula Vista, Eastlake, Mar Vista and Otay Ranch. Both the Lancers and Otay Ranch have competed as independents while the Mar Vista program is brand new.

“The two teams that should contend for the first league title are us and Otay Ranch,” Luna said. “Otay Ranch has improved a lot since last year.”

That might be an understatement. The Mustangs faced off the season with a 9-0 victory against Mission Hills.

Luna said his team is still adjusting to a new defensive scheme as well as a new coach.

The Barons certainly looked the more seasoned of the teams on the pitch Monday. They scored just 36 seconds into the match en route to building a 5-1 lead. The Lancers held their own territorially and halved the visitors’ early lead to 2-1, but their shooting accuracy was not as keen as that of Bonita Vista’s.

“We missed 14 shots,” Hilltop coach Gloria Mucci said bluntly.

The Barons, who improved to 4-7 overall with the win, faced off the season 0-6 and are 1-7 in non-league play, with their only win coming 8-7 in overtime against Granite Hills. Bonita Vista should pad its record somewhat in Metro play.

In Monday’s game, Ashley Ada and Sarah Lim each scored four goals while Laura Ooi scored twice. Lindsay Zapolski was credited with 11 goalie saves.

Bonita Vista opened league play with an 11-1 victory against Eastlake on March 23 and followed with a 10-0 win against Chula Vista on March 26. Ada had three goals in both games while Ooi scored three times in the game against Eastlake.

Hilltop opened league play with a 10-0 victory against Chula Vista and then dropped a 14-8 decision against Otay Ranch.
Chelsea Donahue scored twice in Monday’s loss while Allie Malone had one goal.

After two years of play as a developing independent team, Mucci feels her team has learned the game enough to be competitive at the varsity level.

“Girls lacrosse is almost a completely different game from boys lacrosse,” Mucci said. “It’s a tough game to learn. There are a lot of rules to learn. We’re finally a competitive team. I think it takes three years to learn the game. We’ve been practicing our shooting. We’re going to get better. It takes time.”

Teams will play 10 league games. The Barons close out the first round of league play with upcoming games against Otay Ranch and Mar Vista.

The second round of league play could get very interesting.

Boys lacrosse
Otay Ranch (3-6 overall) remained undefeated in Metro Conference play by defeating Chula Vista, 18-0, in a game on March 26 and edging Bonita Vista, 4-3, on Monday to improve to 3-0. The Barons fell to 1-1 in league play.

Eastlake topped Montgomery, 22-3, on Monday to improve to 1-1 in league play. The Titans improved to 3-1 overall with the win.

Boys Lacrosse Preview
Mustangs set goal to repeat as Metro champs

Posted March 26, 2009
The Otay Ranch Mustangs became the fourth team to win a league championship since the formation of boys lacrosse in the Metro Conference, joining the Chula Vista Spartans, Bonita Vista Barons and Eastlake Titans.

Both the Barons and Titans won multiple league titles. Eastlake captured three consecutive Metro championships until the Mustangs ended that streak last season with their undefeated 8-0 league record.

Despite some key losses on the defensive side due to unexpected injuries, Otay Ranch coach Bill Maeda tabs his team once again as the proverbial “team to beat.”

“It is our goal to win that banner again,” Maeda said. “I think that’s everyone’s goal.”

The Mustangs return essentially their same offense as last year, which can only be good news. Top returners include senior attackman Alex Castello, junior attackman Colton Wood and senior midfielders Gaige Hopkins and Emmanuel Martinez.
Defensively, the team is rebuilding, according to Maeda.

Part of that was due to off-season injuries suffered by Bobby Mark and Brendan Garcia, both all-conference picks. Senior Jacob Perez returns in front of senior goalkeeper Nathan Maeda, the coach’s son.

Perez and the younger Maeda both were first team all-conference selections last season, with Nathan Maeda earning honors as the 2008 Metro Player of the Year.

Additionally, Eric Aguilera has been asked to move from his midfield spot to defense to help balance the team in that area.
Ball-hawking sophomore Luis Sanchez also bolsters the team’s defense.

The elder Maeda said the team’s reworked defense may have been a blessing in disguise. “We weren’t expecting to rebuild our defense until next year. The offense is basically the same as last year. This may work out to our benefit in the long run. Instead of having to rebuild both our offense and defense next year, we'll only have to rebuild our offense next year and have a defense already in place.”

Overall, Otay Ranch graduated 12 seniors last year, including half a dozen starters.

A middle school feeder program is starting to pay dividends, according to the Mustang coach. Four freshmen with lacrosse experience move right into the varsity lineup this season. They include middies Franz Hahn and Robby Sills and defenseman Ryan Deleon and Eddie Vargas.

“We have a crop of freshman who over the next few years will greatly impact the Metro league,” the elder Maeda said.
Otay Ranch jump-started the season 0-5 but the win-loss record might deserve an asterisk.

“We have played the hardest and most difficult non-league schedule a Metro team has ever played,” Bill Maeda said.
Opening losses have been to sixth-ranked Scripps Ranch (11-2), eighth-ranked Francis Parker (10-4), fourth-ranked Rancho Bernardo (15-6) and Granite Hills (11-5) and ninth-ranked La Jolla (13-2).

“I don’t look at the five loses as a negative,” the Mustang coach said. “I look at them as a means to show us what and where we need to work on. It’s getting us prepared for league play.”

The elder Maeda noted that winning the six-team conference title is currently the only way to qualify for the San Diego Section playoffs, as each league champion receives automatic entry into the post-season playoffs.

There is hope the Metro Conference will split into two leagues next season — the Mesa League and South Bay League — with the introduction of at least two new teams. Mar Vista is fielding a junior varsity team this season and has committed to fielding a varsity team next season.

Unsung Titans surrender two-goal lead, drop 10-8 match to Otay Ranch in league lacrosse opener

Posted March 26, 2009
If the Otay Ranch Mustangs entered the 2009 boys lacrosse season as the team favored to repeat as Metro Conference champions, they have to only be considered slight favorites after escaping with a dramatic 10-8 come-from-behind victory against the visiting Eastlake Titans in the league opener for both teams Monday on the Mustangs’ campus.

Otay Ranch reeled off the game’s first three goals — one each by Colton Wood, Emmanuel Martinez and Alex Castello — and it indeed looked like there might be a mismatch on the field.

But four unanswered goals later by the unsung Titans and it was the Mustangs who were being forced to play catch up on the scoreboard.

Eastlake led by as many as two goals — 6-4 — late in the second quarter and owned a 6-5 lead at halftime. The Titans led 7-6 midway through the third quarter and tied the game at 8-all with 5:45 to play in the final quarter.

After coming back to tie the score twice in the third quarter, the Mustangs took an 8-7 lead with 7:47 left in the game on Martinez’ second goal of the match.

After Jacob Dempsy’s goal — his second of the game — brought the visitors back even, it was left for Wood and Castello to script the exciting ending. Wood put the hosts up 9-8 with a clutch goal just 25 seconds later. With the Titans holding a man-advantage with 1:58 left, Castello took a breakaway feed and raced down field to provide the Mustangs with a clutch insurance goal.

Castello led Otay Ranch with four goals while Wood scored three times, Martinez had two goals, and Brian Catabona scored once. Nathan Maeda had 17 goalie saves for the Mustangs, who out-scored the visitors 5-2 in the second half of play.

Dempsey and David Santana led the Titans with two goals apiece while J.C. Garibay, Keith Martin and Zac Bannon each were credited with one goal.

“This was the one we wanted,” said new Eastlake coach Nestor Rosas. “It was a heck of a game. It was a heart-breaker.”

The Titans will get another chance to tangle with the Mustangs April 22 when the teams meet in a second-round league game at Eastlake.

The Titans quickly rebounded from Monday’s loss to Otay Ranch with a 15-3 non-league win at the Preuss School on Tuesday.

Murphy is back where he started as Spartans’ inaugural coach

Posted March 19, 2009
Doug Murphy’s retirement from high school lacrosse lasted exactly ... two months.

“Kevin Willard, the former lacrosse coach and now assistant principal at Chula Vista High School, asked me to restart the program,” said Murphy, who spent the last six seasons as coach at Eastlake High School where he won three consecutive Metro Conference titles.

Murphy is back where he started. He coached the Spartans for two seasons, winning one league championship, before moving on to coach the Titans.

Murphy is starting anew in almost every sense of the word. Chula Vista did not field a team last season and failed to finish the 2007 campaign.

During Murphy’s first tour of duty at CVHS, the Spartans were the conference’s first boys lacrosse powerhouse.

Much has changed since then as the championship torch alternately passed from Chula Vista to the Bonita Vista Barons, Eastlake and now the Otay Ranch Mustangs.

“We had no budget — the officials fees are being paid out of school funds,” Murphy said. “We’re making it on the generosity of our team parents and supporters.”

Murphy said 90 percent of the team’s equipment is borrowed, coming from three middle school programs and one high school program. The two goals were made from scrap metal by friends.

“One net is from my backyard,” Murphy said.

But the big news is that the Spartans are back, hiking conference membership to six teams and a return to a 10-game league schedule. Chula Vista hosts defending league champion Otay Ranch this coming Thursday at 5 p.m.

Murphy’s troops will be fighting an uphill battle for the next month, as the spanking new team gets to know the intricacies of the game and the players learn the strengths of their respective teammates. Chula Vista was hit hard by last Friday’s grading period, with four key players being declared academically ineligible.

By Murphy’s count, the Spartans lost their best defenseman, their top two leading scorers and their starting goalkeeper all in one swoop. Prior to the grading period announcement, Chula Vista started off the season with some genuine optimism with an 11-4 loss to Helix and a 12-6 loss to Monte Vista.

“Their coaches were amazed at how good we were, having not played before,” Murphy said.

Reality set in Tuesday after the Spartans dropped a 24-0 home field decision to third-ranked Scripps Ranch.

Still, the CV coach found some bright spots in the lopsided defeat. He noted that freshman goalie Tyler Stenik made 22 saves despite yielding 24 goals. Overall, the Falcons out-shot the hosts 61-5.

“We’re green everywhere,” Murphy said. “It was amazing we did as well as we did in our first two games. Losing 50 percent of our starting lineup to grades hurts. We’ve had the wind taken out of our sails, but we’ll regroup.”

Daniel Salgado, Hiram Ibarra, Sergio Ortiz and Bobby Mena each had single goals in the loss to Helix while Bobby Hatchett picked up two assists. Ibarra had three goals in the loss to Monte Vista while Salgado, Jordan Shineman and Kevin Mederos each were credited with one goal.

Matt Powell (five goals, three assists) and Kyle Denis (four goals, four assists) paced Scripps Ranch (2-1) in Tuesday's non-league contest while teammates Jake Fish (four goals, two assists), Sean Garret (three goals, three assists), Zack Jones (two goals, two assists), Matt DeJesus (three goals) and Warren Woolsey (two goals) help round out the Falcons offense. Andrew Sayer was credited with three goalie saves for Scripps Ranch, which earlier dropped an 11-10 match to second-ranked Fallbrook.