UDPATE May 19, 2022. Coronado defeated La Jolla Country Day 15-8 on May 18 to move on to the Div. 1 Championship Round on Saturday, May 21 against Patrick Henry at Del Norte High School.
In Coronado, Islander boys lacrosse is one of the most storied and decorated sports in Coronado Athletics history, littered with CIF titles and league championships. Last Saturday, May 14th, the Islander boys lacrosse team began yet another CIF title search.Â
After earning a first-round bye, the Islanders’ first game of the CIF D1 playoffs was against the Mt. Carmel Sun Devils, a team they had beat once this season. In front of a packed house, the Islanders would come away with the 11-10 victory to advance to the CIF semi-finals.Â
To start the game, the Islanders came out hot in the first quarter. Within the first four minutes, Landon Sutherland and Neil Capin found the back of the net on two low heaters to give the Islanders an early 2-0 advantage. However, Mt. Carmel would quickly answer with three goals of their own to retake a 3-2 lead over the Islanders.Â
But just as quickly as Mt. Carmel retook the lead, the Islanders would take it back. Following a steal and groundball from Vinton Garden, he found Matthew Tetzlaff, who connected with Charley Kobets to make it a 3-3 game.Â
Just a little over a minute later, Coronado would tack on yet another goal after Robby Spane won the drop and found Finley Alexander, who would do the rest and find the back of the net to make it a 4-3 Islander lead at the end of the first quarter.Â
The Islanders went on to win 11-10 (Photo by Joan C. Fahrenthold)
With the early flurry of goals coming in the first, it appeared that we were going to be in the middle of a scoring shootout. But the second quarter looked dramatically different. For the Islanders, Emmett Warner, Gardon, Jonah York, and Truett Smith would all play lockdown defense as their defense minimized looks at goal.Â
Islander Goalie Charlie Lang put on a clinic in the net, recording five-plus saves in the second and allowing just one goal the entire second quarter.Â
The second quarter looked to be the perfect time for the Islanders to perhaps create some distance between themselves and Mt. Carmel. Yet despite several quality shots, the Islander offense would only muster one second-quarter goal. The goal came courtesy of Robby Spane, as he stung the top right shelf of the net and made it a 5-4 Islander lead heading into the half.Â
While the offenses took a brief hiatus in the second quarter, the Islander offense would come back in full force in the third. In the opening minutes, the Islanders tallied three straight goals. Two came off outstanding finishes from Neil Capin and beat the goalies on wraparounds both times. The 3-0 run gave the Islanders an 8-4 lead with just about 3:32 left to play in the third.Â
However, Mt. Carmel certainly didn’t give up. The Sun Devils responded with a 4-0 run over the final three minutes of the third, tying the game at 8-8 heading to the fourth.Â
The teams would exchange goals in the fourth and keep things level at 9-9, where it would stay until a critical turning point came with 6:52 left to play; the Islanders’ defense forced a turnover and quickly ran out into a transition offense. Tetzlaff found Maximus Kieffer, who beat the Sun Devils’ keeper to make it a 10-9 game on the transition attack.  Â
Later, with 3:57 left, the Islander defense again came up huge as Warner was the one to create a turnover. With the Islanders in possession on offense, it was again be Neil Capin to sling in an absolute dart past the goalie to make it 11-9 with 1:57 to play.Â
Mt. Carmel made things hard once again with a goal with 50 seconds left to play and then won the next drop. The Islander defense would stand tall one more time, forcing two errant shot attempts to capture the 11-10 victory.Â
The Islanders will return to action in the CIF Semifinals tonight (at home) when they take on La Jolla Country Day, with the game starting 7 pm.Â
Tickets for tonight’s game can be purchased at: https://gofan.co/app/events/616428?schoolId=CIFSD
