Santa Margarita Topples Tesoro in Boys Lacrosse

When the US Lacrosse Southern Section playoff brackets were released a few days ago, the Santa Margarita boys lacrosse players were excited to know they would be facing their friends and foes at nearby Tesoro. But with a sub-.500 record and losses in four of their last six games, the 11th-seeded Eagles should have been excited just to be in the Division 1 playoffs.

With a clean slate and a first-round game Tuesday, Santa Margarita made the most of its second chance. The Eagles took the lead before halftime and never relinquished it on the way to upsetting the sixth-seeded Titans, 6-5, on a hot afternoon at Tesoro High.

The Eagles (8-11) will face El Toro, the No. 3 seed, in the quarterfinals Thursday at 5:15 p.m. at El Toro High. Tesoro finished its season at 12-7.

“Our players wanted to play Tesoro, and I’m sure they wanted to play us,” Santa Margarita coach Chris Driggs said. “These kids all grew up together, so there’s a different meaning when you’re playing you next-door neighbor. We didn’t have all our players when we played them last. Right now, we’re a much better team.”

Mitchell Kingsley scored the game-winner for the Eagles with 3:25 left in the game, skipping a shot past Titans goalie Tanner Knego. The Titans had two more chances to tie the score for the fourth time, but a hard shot by Jake Douglas was snagged by Eagles goalie Ronnie Pisano, and in the final minute a Tesoro player entered the goal crease, turning the ball over to Santa Margarita, which ran out the clock.

Kingsley missed the first meeting with Tesoro on March 12 because of a concussion, though the Eagles won the game, 8-3. He said getting the opportunity to play his friends and foes again in a playoff game made the victory that much sweeter.

“I knew we would come out and play strong,” Kingsley said. “I was just looking to get a shot, but I thought we would score again. I was surprised we didn’t. I think we held the ball more this time and we got more shots.”

The Eagles outshot Tesoro, 31-26, and committed only eight turnovers. But Driggs said he thought his team could have played even better.

“This game was one of the first times all season we had fewer turnovers,” Driggs said. “Every time we played [Tesoro], it’s a tough game. We didn’t do a good job shooting, but we took time off the clock. Normally, we like to run-and-gun, but with the heat we wanted to save ourselves for the fourth [quarter].”

Tesoro took an early 2-0 lead on goals by Douglas and Sage DeVault, but the Eagles tied the score on an unassisted goal by Kyle Spierkel and took the lead with 6:41 before halftime on a goal by Trevor Cook. In the second half, Andrew Luther put the Eagles ahead by two goals, but Tesoro quickly tied the score on goals two minutes apart by Chase Warner and Adam Smith.

Connor Ebner scored his second goal of the game in the third quarter to give Santa Margarita the lead once again, but DeVault tied the score with 8:43 remaining on a high shot from the left wing, leading to the heroics by Kingsley and Pisano, who finished with nine saves. Knego had 15 saves for the Titans.

“We had to come out and just destroy it,” Pisano said. “I was nervous before the game -- I’m always nervous -- but we felt confident going in. Once you get that adrenaline going, you forget about being nervous. But it was my defenders and our offense that won the game. They helped me out a lot."

In other boys Division 1 first-round games:

No. 8 Los Alamitos 12, No. 9 Mater Dei 5

No. 5 Corona del Mar 13, No. 12 Newport Harbor 9

No. 7 Huntington Beach 10, No. 10 JSerra 6

Thursday's quarterfinals schedule:

No. 8 Los Alamitos at No. 1 Foothill, 3:45 p.m.

No. 5 Corona del Mar at No. 4 San Clemente, 7 p.m .

No. 11 Santa Margarita vs. No. 3 El Toro at Serrano Intermediate, 5:15 p.m.

No. 7 Huntington Beach at No. 2 St. Margaret's, 4:30 p.m.