A dominant defensive showing and a balanced offensive attack vaulted Dos Pueblos boys lacrosse to a 13-4 win over Oaks Christian in the CIF-SS D2 Semifinals on Saturday at Scott O’Leary Stadium.
Goalie Danny Perez and the Charger defense held the Lions to just two goals after the opening five minutes of play, while eight different players scored for Dos Pueblos in the win.
“I think that’s the most complete game we played all season, and the scoreboard showed it,” Dos Pueblos head coach Lucas Martinez said. “We were getting all the looks that we were working on all year, and our defense was playing lights out.
“The moment was not too big for us this year, that’s for sure.”
Saturday’s victory was especially sweet for the Chargers as they fell in the semifinal round last season with much of the same roster.
“All offseason and all season this year, this game was our motivation,” Martinez said. “We knew we were the better team last year and we didn’t execute and we didn’t walk away with it.
“So this year and everything leading up to this game was just all about execution, playing our game, playing within ourselves, and trusting our teammates.”
Dos Pueblos and its 17 seniors are now set to face off against either Aliso Niguel or San Clemente, who play on Tuesday, in the CIF-SS D2 Finals next Saturday at Fred Kelly Stadium in Orange.
“We have all the confidence in the world, and again, credit to our seniors,” Martinez said. “We’ve played a lot of playoff games at this point, with this group of kids.
“We’re going in with a lot of confidence because we know that we just need to execute and play our game the same way we’ve done all season… We’re playing great team lacrosse and we’re going to be hard to stop.”
The Lions dominated the time of possession early, and it led to a 2-0 lead midway through the first with goals by Jonah Zirretta and Chase Macleod.
However, the Chargers quickly found their groove and dominated the rest of the opening quarter by scoring five unanswered goals courtesy of five different players.
Orion Prewarski and Koa Birchim each scored within a minute of each other to even the score at 2-2 with 5:11 left in the quarter. They were assisted by Roman Christou and Jack Finneran, respectively.
Less than a minute later, Finneran gobbled up a ricochet off the Oaks Christian goalie and scored to give his team its first lead of the day at 3-2.
Cal Denier continued to find success at the faceoffs, and the Dos Pueblos offense continued to take advantage as Chase Carlson bounced off defenders for a goal before Gus Miller fired a shot into the back of the net to take a 5-2 lead into the second.
The Lions started the second quarter strong as well, with Zirretta scoring once again in the opening minute to cut the Dos Pueblos lead to 5-3.
However, the second unfolded just like the first as the Chargers gained their footing as the quarter went on. Led by more dominant faceoff play by Denier, Dos Pueblos ended the half on a 4-0 run to take a solid 9-3 advantage into halftime.
Dan Finneran began the run by muscling through the defense for a goal, and scored just over a minute later off an assist from his brother Jack to bring the lead to 7-3 at the 4:05 mark.
The Chargers then netted two goals in the span of 12 seconds as Christou got in on the scoring and Parker Bentley scored on Jack Finneran’s third assist of the half to make it 9-3.
Bentley’s goal made it eight Chargers to score in the victory as they continued to find the open attacker possession after possession.
“Everything leading up to this game, we emphasized all movement shots. Getting the ball moving around, getting the goalie moving on the arc, and then finding the shot,” Martinez said. “So it’s not like there’s one player that they can shut off or take away that will stop us because we’re finding the open man and that’s the guy that’s scoring.
“That’s been our mantra all year and to see it really executed was exciting… If one guy’s having an off game, we’ve got a whole bunch of other guys that can step up. We’re not a one-trick pony by any means.”
While the offense put together its run, Perez came up with several big saves throughout the second to allow the Chargers to separate themselves on the scoreboard.
“Danny Perez played one of the best games I’ve ever seen a high schooler play,” Martinez said. “He was stopping outside rippers, he was stopping inside shots. He was everywhere, and to hold that team with elite scorers to four goals and two goals outside of the first five minutes is impressive.
“Makai (Callis), Andrew (Forsland), Mitchell (Maskerey), Jackson (Sillers), all of the defenders played lights out. If we can do that again, I feel really good about next week.”
The trend continued in the third quarter as Oaks Christian kicked off the scoring on a goal from Zirretta, but Dos Pueblos regained control quickly once again.
Jack Finneran attacked off the right side for his second goal of the day to bring the Charger lead to 10-4 with 6:32 left in the quarter.
A few minutes later, Jack Finneran dished it off to Birchim, who finished the goal to make it an 11-4 advantage. That score held for the final three minutes to maintain the comfortable lead with one quarter to go.
Dos Pueblos continued to dictate the pace of play throughout the fourth quarter, controlling the ball on the offensive end and coming up with key stops defensively.
The Chargers tacked on two more goals courtesy of Dan Finneran and Miller, while the defense held the Lions scoreless to secure the 13-4 victory.