La Costa Canyon Mavericks

May 26, 2012 8:35 pm • By GREG BALL For the North County Times

RANCHO PENASQUITOS -- In pressure situations, La Costa Canyon High boys lacrosse coach Jesse Foss always knows who his go-to guy is.

With two overtime goals this season already on his resume, junior attack Aaron Loy was a natural choice to take the biggest shot Saturday. And once again, he came through in the clutch.

Loy’s goal with 20 seconds left in overtime lifted the Mavericks to an 8-7 victory over defending champion Torrey Pines in the CIF San Diego Section Division I final at Westview High, giving LCC its third win this season over its biggest rival and its fifth section title in seven years.

“We (simulate) things like this in practice all the time, where we do three-minute games where we’re down by two or three goals, so our kids are used to those situations and how to stay composed,” Foss said.

“Once we got to the overtime period, we told Aaron that we were going to set him up. We said ’We’re going to get you your third overtime goal of the season,’ and he said ‘Alright.’ He ran down, read the play perfectly and got the shot we wanted. It worked out great.”

Loy capped an improbable comeback after LCC’s chances appeared to fade late in regulation. The teams were tied at 3 entering the fourth quarter, but Torrey Pines quickly took control. Bennett Shafer put the second-seeded Falcons (17-5) ahead a little more than a minute into the frame, and then Andrew Perkins and Lucas Gradinger each found the back of the net in a 90-second span for a 6-3 lead. The momentum clearly belonged to Torrey Pines.

Top-seeded La Costa Canyon (22-1) didn’t wilt, though. The Mavericks’ Brendan Gaughan scored on a bullet to the low right corner of the cage with 4 minutes, 19 seconds left, and Tom Riis won the ensuing faceoff and sprinted straight toward the goal for a score that got LCC within striking distance.

Torrey Pines extended its lead to 7-5 on an acrobatic diving goal from Perkins with 1:06 to play, but Riis delivered again with a goal at the 41-second mark and another with 14 seconds left to force overtime.

In the overtime period, Torrey Pines took possession early and fired three shots at LCC goalie Bryan Cooper, who stopped each one. After the third of those saves, the Mavericks took the ball downfield, got it into Loy’s stick as he raced up the left half of the field, and their biggest clutch performer found the opening he needed.

“It’s really indescribable -- it’s not a normal goal, but it’s a team goal,” Loy said as his teammates celebrated in the distance. “It was definitely tough to stay focused and not get down when we were behind, but we have faith in each other, and we know that if our defense gets the ball back, our offense will, in turn, score goals.”

Torrey Pines had won three of its four previous meetings with La Costa Canyon in section championship games, and has won four championships overall, including last year’s.

The Falcons didn’t have enough Saturday to counter one last push from the Mavericks.

“We were ahead by three and let them back in, so it makes it tough to swallow,” Falcons coach Jono Zissi said. “Somebody was going to lose by a goal, and they had all the momentum going into overtime.”

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