Santa Margarita Eagles Lacrosse
   
Mens Varsity: Roster | Stats | Schedule | Coaches | Mens Junior Varsity: Roster | Stats | Schedule | Coaches
Eagles Impress in Season Opener

The home made clam chowder was simmering; the blue and gold balloons lined the stands and the Steel Drum Ensemble was in perfect harmony. Combine that with weather in the mid 40's and you guessed it - the SM lacrosse season was underway!

First up for the Eagles, were the Lancers from Thousand Oaks. One Lancer parent was overheard saying, "we thought the hardest part of today was going to be the drive down to south Orange County - unfortunately that was much less challenging than tonight's game against the Eagles...."

The Eagles started fast and never let up in a convincing 17-1 win to kick start their season. It was a total team effort with 10 players notching goals for the Eagles. Cory Thomson and Kyle Spierkel led the offensive assault with 3 goals each. Jordan Leivois, Reiley Higgins, and Griffin Foster added a pair of goals and Matt Dolan, Adam Enochs, Barrett Kelly, Ryan Dewane and Cameron Stone each contributed with 1 goal.

On the defensive side of the field, Frankie Berry played solid defense to keep the Lancers in check. Between the pipes, Ronnie Pisano was a rock – only giving up one goal and collecting 6 saves, while Jake “The Fridge” Whelan turned in the Defensive Play of the Game with his “not in my house” save late in the game.

Next up for the (1-0) Eagles is a Trinity League opponent: at Servite on Wednesday, March 10th.

Come out and show your Eagle Spirit!

Mens JV Eagles defeat Thousand Oaks, 17-0

SMCHS JV Boys Lacrosse opened their season on Friday with a 17-0 victory over the visiting Thousand Oaks Lancers. The JV Eagles were led by several players with multi-goal games including Andrew Luher (4 goals, 2 assists), Nikko Heller (3 Goals, 2 assists), Chris Bohmfalk (3 goals) and Kyle Rosenberg (2 goals). Daniel Streit, Hank Reuter, Charlie Hull and Brian Gould contributed to the effort with a goal apiece. The Eagles dominated in the faceoff circle, winning 13 of 19. The Eagle defense, led by Spencer Tyler (one goal) was solid all game, quickly smothering any offensive threats mounted by the Lancers. Ian Babcock, AJ Novolbilski and Blake Yuhas combined in goal to preserve the shutout. Next, the Eagles face their first Trinity league opponent, Servite on Wed March 10th.

Chasing Foothill

The question facing the Men’s Santa Margarita Eagle Varsity Lacrosse team entering the 2010 season is the same question all of the upper echelon programs around Orange County are asking themselves: Is this our year to break through for a County Championship? Of course the road to a championship leads directly through Foothill High School.

The CIF Southern Section sanctioned Lacrosse as a Varsity sport in 2006 and currently there remains an insufficient amount of high schools participating to crown an official CIF champion. However a playoff system does exist and an Orange County Champion is crowned every year. The Foothill Knights have won all three of the tournaments in 2007, 2008 and 2009. In fact, since 2001 Foothill has won 8 of 9 OC Championships going back to the beginning of the decade before Lacrosse was sanctioned.

Foothill coach Jon Fox grew up in Chico, CA playing football and baseball in high school. Fox was introduced to Lacrosse while attending UC Irvine in 1991 and began coaching University High School while still in college. He became University’s head coach after graduating from UCI but only stayed one year. Fox started the Foothill High School Lacrosse Club in 1999 approximately five years before most high school or middle school kids in Orange County knew what a Lacrosse stick looked like.

“The reason they (Foothill) got a head start was Coach Jon Fox developed a feeder system through Hewes Middle School,” said Santa margarita Head Coach and former University of Virginia stand out Chris Driggs. “He was one of the first programs to begin, so that head start translated into better skilled players.”

Coach Driggs started the OC Starz club program in 2004 and the current Santa Margarita varsity roster includes many players who have been playing under him for several years before arriving as Freshman at Santa Margarita. This coupled with the fact that the CIF rule eliminating the limit on coaching kids in the “off-season” should lead to large strides in the Santa Margarita program.

“I feel it (the CIF rule change) has allowed the dedicated players in Orange County to get better by playing more months of the year…not just Spring,” said Driggs. “Santa Margarita players happen to fall into the dedicated group, so this has helped us get better as a program.

Coach Fox does not believe the rule change has helped Foothill. “The changing of the association rule has allowed programs to continue to improve year around and has leveled out the playing field,” said Fox. “Foothill doesn’t typically do that much off-season as we encourage our kids to play other sports. I think the ruling has helped other schools more so than ours, but that has been good for the development of Lacrosse.”

So we come back to the original question: Is this Santa Margarita’s year? Coach Driggs wouldn’t answer that question specifically but he did offer this. “I think we are ready to play any team that is out there, and the goal is to beat every team we play.”

Santa Margarita does not play Foothill this year in the regular season so it looks like this question will not be answered until the playoffs begin in May. If you are curious what the experts think at Westside LAX I can borrow some lyrics from The Who’s Roger Daughtry and Pete Townsend. “Meet the new boss…same as the old boss”.

Snack Shack Specials in March!
The following are the specials that the snack shack will be serving for the March Mens Home Games!

Specials for March 5th Men’s JV and Varsity
Homemade Lenten Clam Chowder
Cheese Stromboli
Vegetarian Chili

Specials for March 12th- Men’s JV and Varsity
Homemade Lenten Clam Chowder
Vegetarian Chili
Minestrone Soup

Specials for March 18th- Men’s JV and Varsity
Sliders

Specials for March 24th- Men’s JV and Varsity
Pulled Pork Sandwiches

Specials for March 29th - Men’s JV
Meatball Sandwiches with Provolone Cheese

At each game we will also have baked potatoes with all the fixins’, quesadillas, and hot dogs, too!

Signing Day

Santa Margarita Senior Midfielder Jordan Leivois and Senior Defensemen Justin Malloy signed national letters of intent to play Lacrosse at Mesa State College in Grand Junction, Colorado on Wednesday, February 3rd aka National Signing Day.

“The SM Lacrosse program is very proud of Justin and Jordan taking the next step to be a student-athlete in college playing NCAA Lacrosse,” said Santa Margarita Head Coach Chris Driggs. “This is an example of how good the game of lacrosse is getting out west. I think Mesa State could be a great place for other Santa Margarita players to go in the future.

The Mesa State Mavericks will begin its inaugural season of Men’s Lacrosse this fall and are led by newly named Head Coach A.J. Stevens. Stevens previously led the University of Illinois Lacrosse program and also has experience coaching the Chicago Machine a Major League Lacrosse franchise.

“Mesa State is a brand new program that has never played an NCAA game to date. The Fall of 2010 will be their first season, so getting players like Jordan and Justin will help them to become a successful program sooner than later,” said Coach Driggs. These guys were good enough to play at college programs back east, but they chose to stay out west to help build the sport in their neck of the woods. The verdict is out, but I think Mesa State will be young and hungry.”

West Side Lax Mens Preview

The Mens Varsity lacrosse team was recently named in the yearly West Side Lax preview of the Southern Section as a divisional contender, the following is part of the article:

Santa Margarita Catholic has good depth, with the core of the team being sophomores and juniors, and the Eagles will be a bolstered by three sophomore transfers: attackman Griffin Foster from Beckman, middie Connor Ebner from St. Margaret’s and defenseman/long-stick middie Josh Kang from St. Margaret’s. Mesa State-bound senior middie Jordan Lievois and Mesa State bound senior long-stick middie Justin Malloy will team with sophomore goalie Ronnie Pisano and junior middie Cory Thomson to make a formidable group.

Mens Practice Time Update

For all Mens Practice times that were originally set for 7:30 PM please show up by 7 PM so that all athletes can participate in warm ups and stretching. The calendar has been updated, please scroll over the days for the most up-to-date practice schedule.

Elite 25 Selections

Congratulations to Sophomore Attackmen Griffin Foster and Defenseman Conor Mullarky to being named to the Elite 25 Individual Power Rankings. Griffin was named as a Sophomore and Conor was named as a Sophomore Honorable Mention. Great Job Eagles!

Read the article here.

Alumni News: Brendan Finneran

Siena's Brendan Finneran to Receive ECAC Award of Valor

LOUDONVILLE, N.Y. – Siena men's lacrosse player Brendan Finneran is one of five ECAC Award of Valor recipients and will be recognized at the league's Honor's Luncheon on October 6 in Hyannis, Mass. Finneran is a cancer survivor and fought his way back to being a Division I student-athlete.

Established in 1985, the ECAC Award of Valor honors ECAC athletes whose courage, motivation, and relentless determination serves as an inspiration to all. The recipients exemplify strength of character and perseverance deserving recognition as being truly triumphant.

Finneran (Canton, Mass./Canton), a junior, was diagnosed with bone cancer in March of 2006. He went through chemotherapy and a surgery that summer that removed 1/3 of the bone in his right leg. Finneran was told by doctors that it would take him six months to walk, years to run and he'd never play lacrosse again. It took him six weeks to stand and a year to run and ride a bike.

Last fall, Finneran returned to lacrosse practice at Siena and was in uniform on the sideline in the season opener against Johns Hopkins. Soon thereafter he sustained a season ending stress fracture in his leg, but is now healthy again and ready for a second comeback.

Elite Training Group 2009-2010

Elite Sports Conditioning Training has developed a specialized group training program for athlete’s that have shown a desire to excel in their individual sport. This group trains at a separate time from the full team conditioning program. Each player has been hand selected to attend this group based on performance, attitude, coaches’ recommendations, and attendance.

Every year Elite Sports Conditioning Training presents the “Iron Eagle” award and participation in this group is one of the requirements needed to be eligible for this award. Another key requirement for this award is that players must maintain a GPA of 3.0 or better.


Elite Training Group for 09/10

Sam Applegate
Ian Babcock
Frankie Berry (Captain)
Alec Berry
Blake Buckley
Adam Enochs
Bret Enochs (Captain)
Steven Gould
Joshua Kang
Zac Kavanaugh
Braden Kelly
Barrett Kelly
Jordan Lievois
Justin Malloy
Ronnie Pisano
Kyle Spierkel
Roman Spinosi
Daniel Streit
Zach Worthen

Elite Training Group 2009-2010

Elite Sports Conditioning Training has developed a specialized group training program for athlete’s that have shown a desire to excel in their individual sport. This group trains at a separate time from the full team conditioning program. Each player has been hand selected to attend this group based on performance, attitude, coaches’ recommendations, and attendance.

Every year Elite Sports Conditioning Training presents the “Iron Eagle” award and participation in this group is one of the requirements needed to be eligible for this award. Another key requirement for this award is that players must maintain a GPA of 3.0 or better.


First Selections of the Elite Training Group for 09/10

Sam Applegate
Frankie Berry (Captain)
Adam Enochs
Bret Enochs
Griffin Foster
Zac Kavanaugh
Justin Malloy
Roman Spinosi
Zack Worthen


Second Selections for the Elite Training Group for 2009-2010

Ian Babcock
Daniel Streit
Kyle Spierkel
Joushua Kang

Alumni Defeats Varsity 11-10 in 3rd Annual Blue vs. Gold Game
On a hot and sunny Saturday the Alumni team defeated the Mens Varsity team 11-10 in the annual Blue vs. Gold game. For the third installment of the Annual Blue vs. Gold Game featured for the first time an Alumni team completely filled with SM Lacrosse Alumni and Coaches. All graduating classes were represented and the new Mens Alumni were welcomed to the club: Jack Cranston, Ryan Curran, Justin Gabriel, Cameron Kilar, Ryan Parent, and Will Shaffer.

Photos coming soon!

Postseason Honors
Congratulations to the following players for their various postseason honors.

Boys

Jack Cranston
US Lacrosse Association All American
1st Team All County
Trinity League Most Valuable Offensive Player
1st Team All League

Cameron Kilar
US Lacrosse Association Academic All American
1st Team All League

Ronnie Pisano
1st team All League
Justin Malloy
1st team All League

Frank Berry
2nd team All League

Justin Gabriel
2nd Team All League

Reiley Higgins
2nd team All League

Cory Thompson
All League Honorable Mention

Conor Mullarky
All League Honorable Mention

Girls

Cassie Mazolewski
All County Honorable Mention
1st Team All League

Kelsey Taber
1st Team All League

Brianne Richards
2nd Team All League

Jordan O’Connor
2nd Team All League

Julia Wisch
2nd Team All League

Erica Henson
All League Honorable Mention

Maddie Holloway
All League Honorable Mention

Caitlin Viar
All League Honorable Mention

Mens Varsity down St. Margaret's in 2nd Round, Move to Semi's

Congratulations to the Mens Varsity Eagles for defeating League Rival St. Margaret's in Overtime 6-5 at St. Margaret's. With the win in the second round of Playoffs the Eagles will move to the Division 1 Semi-Finals, where they will play Southern Section's #1 ranked team, Corona Del Mar. The game is set for 6:45 on Saturday, May 9th at San Clemente H.S. Come out and show your support!

Reminder: Since the game is a US Lacrosse Semifinal there is a $5 entrance fee for all fans!

Mens Varsity Advances to 2nd Round of Section Playoffs

Congratulations to the Mens Varsity team for advancing to the second round of CIF Southern Section Playoffs through defeating cross town rival Tesoro H.S. by a score of 10-3. Goals were registered by Jack Cranston, Ryan Parent, Justin Gabriel, Reiley Higgins and Ryan Richards. Great Job Eagles!

The Eagles will next face league rival St. Margaret's on Thursday at St. Margaret's. The time is TBD.

Mens JV Gold defeats League Rival Mater Dei, 8-4

The JV Gold men's lacrosse team defeated Mater Dei 8-4 on Wednesday April 22. The team was tied 3-3 at half time, but they stepped it up to win the game. Blake Buckley lead the team with 3 goals, followed by Connor Mazolewski with two, and one goal by Derek Smith, Ryan Dewane, and Kyle Speirkel.

Mens Varsity Eagles fall to Amador Valley, 12-13
By Michael Carnow
WSL California Correspondent

SANTEE, Calif. – Saturday night’s Santana Spring Classic championship game wasn’t just being played for a title.

NorCal vs. SoCal bragging rights were also on the line.

Senior attackman Kyle Riddle scored a game-high eight goals, including two in the fourth quarter, to lead CIF-North Coast Section representative Amador Valley to a 13-12 victory over Santa Margarita Catholic of the CIF-Southern Section in a thrilling conclusion to the third-annual event.

With the victory, the Dons (11-2) won their second straight Santana Spring Classic title.

“It’s always awesome to get that championship win,” Riddle said. “We came down and just wanted to show our pride. We wanted to take it to them and show everyone how it’s done in NorCal.”

Sophomore attackman Mitch Flaherty registered four points on two goals and two assists, junior attackman Kevin Busch added two points on one goal and one assist and junior attackman Pace Cranney and junior middie Matt Inderbitzen both scored once to help Amador Valley win its fifth straight.

Defensively, Dons senior goalie Daniel Sayles and junior goalie Chris DeLuca combined to save 10 shots.

Amador Valley used an early four-goal run to take control, and the Dons defense held on just long enough to dash Santa Margarita’s hopes of a late comeback.

“We are just relieved that we could hold on against an excellent ball club,” Amador Valley head coach Rory Manley said. “Santa Margarita fought hard all game, but we couldn’t be more proud of our guys for hanging in there against a ferocious defense.”

In a losing effort, Vermont-bound senior attackman Jack Cranston registered a team-high eight points on six goals and two assists, senior attackman Justin Gabriel added two goals and senior attackman Ryan Parent had two points on one goal and one assist. Junior middies Thomas Bridges and Chris Fox and sophomore middie Adam Enochs all scored once for the Eagles (10-3), who had their two-game winning streak snapped.

Cranston and Fisher combined to win 22 of the game’s 29 face-offs, but the extra possession did not translate into more goals, and 17 first-half turnovers came back to haunt Santa Margarita.

Riddle scored all four of Amador Valley’s first-quarter goals and capped the Dons’ initial run with 2:07 left to put his team up 4-1.

Cranston stopped the bleeding after he ripped a shot top left with 8:10 to play in the second quarter to put the Eagles within two at 4-2. But Amador Valley scored four of the next six goals and headed into halftime with an 8-4 lead.

Santa Margarita looked like a new team in the second half. The Eagles scored six of the next eight goals, and Cranston capped a late three-goal surge when he drove from the top of the box and ripped a shot bottom left with 10:54 remaining in the fourth quarter to knot it at 10-10.

Riddle scored his second goal of the quarter after Santa Margarita freshman goalie Ronnie Pisano came out from the cage to hit him, but Riddle spun off the contact and scored on an open net to put his team up 12-10 with 5:01 left in regulation.

Cranston rallied the Eagles by scoring his third goal of the quarter with 22 seconds to play in regulation and make it 13-12.

Cranston won the ensuing face-off, and Santa Margarita had two shots in the waning moments, but both sailed wide of the goal.

“We played good, but they are a tough team,” Cranston said. “It was a hard loss either way. Coach told us at halftime that we needed to stop turning the ball over, get some ground balls and make some shots. We did just that, but it was just too little too late.”

Mens JV Gold defeats San Juan Hills, 8-7
The Eagles came out with a strong start against the Stallions and were tied up 2-2 at the half. After another quarter, our JV gold team was down 5-6 when they really rallied back. The Eagles tied it up 7-7 with 1:30 on the clock. Blake Buckley caught a pass right on the crease for a goal to take the lead 8-7. When the stallions took the ball with a minute left, Connor Mazolewski played amazing defense and took away the ball from the Stallions taking the eagles to an 8-7 victory! The team was led with four goals by Blake Buckley, followed by Brett Kilar with two, and Roman Spinossi and Andrew Luher each contributing one goal. Jake "Fridge" Whelan had 14 saves and played and amazing game!

Congratulations to our Mens Varsity and JV Gold teams!

Our Men's Varsity Lacrosse team is playing very well in the San Diego Spring Break Classic. They won their game last night against Santana High School with a score of 16-7. And, tonight they won against Great Oaks High School with a score of 17-9. That win gets them into the Finals!!!! The game will be played tomorrow night (Saturday) at 8:00 pm against Amador Valley. If you want to take a nice scenic drive down to Santana High School you too can join our other fans while they cheer on the team.

If you cannot make it down to San Diego but would like to listen to the game you can go to www.kbcsports.com. Look under Broadcast Schedule and click on the listen button next to the San Diego Spring Break Classic Finals.

A huge Congratulations to our JV Gold in their win against San Juan Hills today. They won that game with a score of 8-7. It was a real nail biter!! Prior to the game we had a moment of silence for Zach Raffety and the team played man down until the first whistle in honor of Zach.

Good luck to our JV Girls as they head into the Sticks and Stones Tournament tomorrow at Trabuco Hills High School. If you would like to watch some lacrosse closer to home head on over. They have one game at 8:55 am and another game at 10:45 am.

When you have finished watching those games you can then head over to the JV Blue game tomorrow at Foothill High School. They will be playing El Dorado. Their game starts at 1:00 pm.

We have a full day of lacrosse on tap for tomorrow. The games are all spaced out so you can make it to all of them! You will certainly be able to get your lacrosse fix!!!

GO EAGLES!!!

In Memory of Zach Raffety


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*Scroll Over a Day to See Game and Practice Schedules
View Detailed Calendar
Wed. November 18 @ 7 PM
Parents Meeting
@ SMCHS C108
View our own Collection of Game Day Photography taken by our Eagle Parents! Click here to go to our Gallery
Do you have photos to submit?
Click Here to Find out How

2009 Blue vs. Gold Game
Alumni/Coaches vs. Varsity
Saturday, July 11
Result:
Alumni/Coaches 11
Varsity 10
Visit the Alumni Page
Coming Soon


Lax Power Computer Ratings
Mens Varsity Rankings:
CIF Rankings | Team Page

West Side Lax Lacrosse News
Coming Soon
 
 
 
 
Team
Win
Loss
%
Santa Margarita
0
0
0.000
J Serra
0
0
0.000
Mater Dei
0
0
0.000
Servite
0
0
0.000
St. John Bosco
0
0
0.000
St. Margaret's
0
0
0.000
Date
Team
Time
W/L
3/5 Thousand Oaks
7 PM
-
3/10 @Servite*
4:30 PM
-
3/12 Mission Viejo
7 PM
-
3/15 Los Alamitos
4:40 PM
-
3/18 J Serra*
3:30 PM
-
3/24 Servite*
7 PM
-
3/27 @St. John Bosco*
11:30 AM
-
3/31 @Mater Dei
5:30 PM
-
4/9
@LCC Shootout
4/10
@LCC Shootout
4/13 @J Serra*
5:30 PM
-
4/16 St. Margaret's*
6 PM
-
4/24
St. John Bosco*
11 AM
-
4/28 @St. Margaret's*
6 PM
-
4/30 Mater Dei*
7 PM
-
*Indicates League Game

Santa Margarita Catholic H.S.

CIF Southern Section - Division 1

Official Conditioning Program
Vince Garcia
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