La Costa Canyon coach Dallas Hartley and Coronado coach Alex Cade agreed last night was “one of those nights.” Of course, that expression had different meanings for the winning and losing lacrosse coaches.
For Hartley and his Mavericks, it was one of those nights where every bounce in the section title game went their way, every shot found the back of the net and almost every Coronado shot resulted in a save.
For Cade and the Islanders, it was simply one of those nights.
The result was a 15-5 LCC victory at Rancho Bernardo High.
Eight Mavericks scored in an offensive barrage that kept the Coronado defense off balance.
“I think that's a testament to the depth of this team,” said Hartley. “We have a lot of legitimate lacrosse players on this team.”
The sharp shooters for the top-seeded Mavericks (19-3) had the green light to snipe early and often. Five first-quarter goals, two from Brian Kovary and T.C. Whaley and one from Stedman Slaughter, stole any momentum No. 2 Coronado (19-3) was carrying into the contest.
“In a game this important, getting that big lead early was huge,” said Whaley, who recorded a hat trick along with Slaughter and Kovary. “Lately we have been able to just score mass points at will and that was the difference tonight. We never let up.”
After Timmy Andrews stretched LCC's lead to 6-0 in the second quarter, Bobby Braun finally got Coronado on the board for a 6-1 halftime score.
Coronado's Curtis Perkins opened the scoring in the second half to make it 6-2, but LCC poured in four goals, including three in the final minute of the third period.
“It just wasn't our night,” said Cade, whose Islanders were making their first appearance in the title game compared with LCC, which was making its sixth straight. “I think the bad start was jitters. Combine that with the fact they are a very good team and that's a big hole to try and dig out of.”
Coronado's Cory Couture led the Islanders with two goals.
While the LCC offense cooked, its defense compressed. The Mavericks killed off four man-down situations and held their opponent to fewer than six goals for the 12th straight game.