RANCHO SANTA MARGARITA — Since the CIF Southern Section took over the boys lacrosse playoff system in 2021, Mater Dei has been eliminated by the eventual Division 1 champion every season before reaching the championship game.
Mater Dei got over the hump and reached the championship game for the first time by beating Santa Margarita 11-8 Saturday in the Division 1 semifinals at Santa Margarita High.
“We’ve had some bad bracket luck the last few years but this group is different because of the love they have for each other,” Mater Dei coach Knute Kraus said. “It’s a tight-knit group from the first guy on the roster to the last guy. It makes it easy when adversity strikes to band together because they know the guy next to them has their back.”
Brendan Strader had a career-high seven goals for Mater Dei in an 11-8 win over Santa Margarita in the CIF-SS Division 1 semifinals Saturday, May 10, 2025. (Photo by Michael Huntley)Senior attackman Brendan Strader had a career-high seven goals for Mater Dei (15-3). He has been red hot lately with 23 goals in his last seven games.
“Most of those goals were assisted so I couldn’t do that without my teammates,” Strader said. “We had good ball movement all around, focused on playing slow, seeing the field and taking the extra breath. That was big for us.”
Mater Dei beat Santa Margarita 10-6 earlier this season in a game that eventually decided the Trinity League championship. Despite the head-to-head result, Santa Margarita (15-4) was the No. 2 seed in the Division 1 bracket and Mater Dei was No. 3.
Saturday’s game was similar to the first meeting between the two teams. Mater Dei got out to a 4-0 lead in the first quarter Saturday but Santa Margarita rallied to trail 5-4 at halftime. It was the same halftime score as the first game between the two teams.
Santa Margarita tied the game two minutes into the second half. The celebration was short-lived and Mater Dei scored three consecutive goals in 83 seconds of game time to take an 8-5 lead.
“We were in the same situation against them in league and we knew how that one ended so we weren’t worried,” Strader said. “We knew a comeback was coming but we turned it around and it worked out for us.”
“We prepared our boys for it being a game of runs and we had to stay positive or neutral through that,” Kraus said. “We can’t ride the roller coaster of the ups and downs with them. It was really good to see our guys stand tall through that adversity.”
Santa Margarita took more shots than Mater Dei did in the first half but Mater Dei goalie Sam Heafner kept the Monarchs in the game with 15 saves.
His clears after the save set up some fast break opportunities for Mater Dei and put the Monarchs in good situations.
“He’s an absolute playmaker,” Strader said of Heafner. “It’s weird to say he creates offense through his defense but he does that. He makes big stops that fires the team up and clears the ball out. He’s a huge part of our success.”
Mater Dei scored two goals in the first 80 seconds of the game. Face-off specialist Hugo Villalba won the opening face-off and found Ross Rector for a goal 14 seconds into the game.
Rector had two goals for the Monarchs while Gordon Hanscom and Sinjin Kroener also scored.
Karl Robison and Nolan Taylor each scored three goals for Santa Margarita. Brady Booen had a goal and two assists.
Mater Dei will play Loyola Saturday at El Modena High for the Division 1 championship. Loyola has reached four championship games, the most of any team in the Southern Section, and won the inaugural championship in 2021.
The two teams have not met this season but Mater Dei has won its last two games against Loyola in 2022 and 2023. Loyola eliminated Mater Dei from the playoffs in 2021.
“They are a really talented program,” Kraus said of Loyola. “But I really like our guys and the way they are playing for each other right now.”
Loyola 11, Foothill 9: Foothill erased an 8-3 halftime deficit, but fell short against Loyola at Foothill High.
Ben Wehage had three goals for Foothill (15-8) and added an assist. Connor Wolfe scored two goals while Landon Rosenthal, Tavin Russell, Carter Fairbanks and Hudson Brown each added one.
Foothill is the only team in the Southern Section to reach the Division 1 semifinals in each season.
The Knights are the only Southern Section team to have a margin of defeat of less than 10 goals against Loyola this season.
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