ORANGE — The calling card for the San Clemente boys lacrosse team this season has been staunch defense.
San Clemente stuck to its winning formula and beat Dos Pueblos 8-7 to win the CIF-SS Division 2 championship Saturday at El Modena High.
Dos Pueblos (21-1) was previously undefeated and beat San Clemente (15-6) earlier in the season. This is the first CIF boys lacrosse championship for San Clemente.
“These 17 seniors have been on varsity for three years and it’s been a grind,” San Clemente coach Brendan Finnerty said. “We’ve been knocked out in the quarterfinals the past two years and they put in the work to make sure we got this one done.”
San Clemente allowed just 13 total goals in four playoff games, which included a shutout against league rival Aliso Niguel in the semifinals.
The Tritons’ defense delivered Saturday and it caused Dos Pueblos to struggle to get the ball into San Clemente’s zone.
Dos Pueblos was held to single-digit goals only three times this season and two of those games were against San Clemente.
“The defense as a whole is the foundation of this team and we wouldn’t be here without them,” Finnerty said. “They are absolute studs. I know people make fun of how boring our games are but I don’t care. We play the style that helps us win and our defense makes that happen.”
Senior defenseman Sam LaMarre forced two crucial turnovers late in the fourth quarter, including one in the final 10 seconds of the game to seal the win for San Clemente.
San Clemente struggled offensively for parts of the game but got a strong performance from senior attackman Kai Morgan. He had three goals and ran much of the offense from behind the net.
A crucial play came in the first half when the Dos Pueblos goalie was attempting to clear the ball when Morgan stole the ball and scored a fast break goal on an empty net.
“He’s our best attackman and everything runs through him,” Finnerty said of Morgan. “Those are hustle plays that we love to see and we’ve seen it all playoffs on our rides. It’s a great way to get an easy goal.”
Sophomore Landon Caster also had three goals for San Clemente. Jack Bunker and Trevor Ghyzel each added a goal and Grady Blunt had three assists.
DIVISION 1
Loyola 11, Mater Dei 3: Mater Dei struggled to maintain possession of the ball in a loss to Loyola on Saturday in the Division 1 final at El Modena High.
Loyola (20-3) won 12 of 17 face-offs and had the ball for nearly 35 minutes of game time.
Mater Dei coach Knute Kraus was happy with his team’s performance and credited Loyola for being one of the best teams he has ever seen.
“I think they are. They are a very talented team and are very difficult to beat,” Kraus said when asked if Loyola is the best team he has seen. “I thought we played really well and we just happened to be playing a really great team.”
Loyola led 6-2 at halftime and led 9-2 entering the fourth quarter. The Cubs having a large lead and controlling the ball caused Mater Dei to rush shots and play at a frantic pace when it did get possession.
“They wore us out defensively with the possession time,” Kraus said. “When we got the ball it sped up our clock and made us think we needed to play faster instead of matching pace. That’s Loyola’s game and we played their game a bit more than we wanted to.”
Mater Dei goalie Sam Heafner had five saves in the first half to keep the Monarchs in the game. Nicholas Stokes had two goals for Mater Dei and Harper O’Hara added one. O’Hara, Sinjin Kroener and Hugo Villalba each had assists.
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