Announcement
Checking for Cancer: La Costa Canyon (CA) downs Penn Charter, 9-4
By James Boyle
Phillylacrosse.com, Posted 4/14/13
Who said the lacrosse out West is not as tough as it is in the East?
Saturday at the Nike “Checking for Cancer’ Lacrosse Invitational at Haverford School, the La Costa Canyon (CA) Mavericks showed just how tough the West Coast lacrosse players can be.
La Costa Canyon jumped to a 4-0 first-period lead and never looked back in defeating Penn Charter, 9-4, to cap a 2-1 run through the East Coast. The Mavericks improved to 7-2 and finished 2-1 overall in its East Coast swing, which included a 5-3 victory over St. Augustine Prep (N.J.) and a 9-4 loss to Salesianum School (DE).
La Costa assistant coach Matt Murphy, a graduate of Haverford High School who played college lacrosse at Hobart in upstate New York before heading to San Diego for a kinder climate, said there’s a lot to like about west coast lacrosse.
“Growing up you always heard West Coast lacrosse was a softer version of lacrosse and was never as intense as east coast [lacrosse],” said Murphy. “Since I’ve been out there, it’s been kind of an East Coast coaching staff and they’re trying to bring that East Coast mentality to the game out there.
“They’re definitely trying to play a much more gritty game than what would stereotypically be the California style of the game.
“You always know you’re going to get a great game out of teams from Philadelphia, and you know you’re going to get some hard-nosed (players) that are going to fight for every ball. So it’s good to get guys to react to that and play to that standard.”
Senior goalie Bryan Cooper had 13 saves for La Costa Canyon and Cameron Ziegler collected four goals and two assists.
“(We had) good communication on the field,” said Cooper. “And everyone’s kind of on the same page.
“Coming into the season, defense was supposed to be our weakness. But we’ve really come together and we’ve been a stronghold all year so far.”
La Costa, the CIF San Diego defending champion, took control of the game immediately with a 4-0 lead in the first quarter.
Kevin Murphy (two goals) got Penn Charter (8-6) on the board in the second quarter off an assist from James Vandegrift, but the Quakers never got closer.
“It was a good performance. A couple ones I wish I could have back,” said Cooper. “But all in all it was a great performance and the Defense really helped me out. This is the end of our trip [to the east coast] so it’s a great note to go off on.”
Aaron Loy added two goals for La Costa Canyon.
For Penn Charter, the defeat came less than 24 hours after a heartbreaking 8-7 double-overtime loss to Malvern Prep. The Quakers have lost three straight games since an eight-game win streak.
La Costa Canyon (CA) 9, Penn Charter 4
To watch game highlights on Inside Lacrosse go to: http://television.insidelacrosse.com/video/60a8d651-8951-4ed2-b8df-769a4285b5d7/la-costa-canyon-ca-vs-penn-charter-pa-highlights
