SAN JUAN CAPISTRANO – Foothill’s boys lacrosse team has had to deal with the bitter taste of a postseason loss to St. Margaret’s for the past 11 months.
So Tuesday’s result had to be a little sweet for the top-ranked Knights.
Foothill utilized a clutch fourth quarter from Warren Case to rally to an 11-8 victory against the fourth-ranked Tartans in a nonleague tilt at St. Margaret’s.
The Knights (11-1) lost to St. Margaret’s, 19-6, in the county semifinals last season.
The Tartans (7-4) tied the score, 8-8, Tuesday when Ryan Harnsich scored with 7:57 remaining. Case responded with two goals in the next three-plus minutes to put Foothill in control.
“It’s indescribable,” Case said. “We’ve had our mind on this game for a long time, ever since we lost big in the playoffs last year. We just wanted to beat them badly and get some revenge on them.”
The first half was rocky for the Knights. Hunter Edington and Josh Davis scored two goals apiece to put the St. Margaret’s up, 5-3, at intermission.
Foothill couldn’t get much going offensively and was having a tough time keeping up with Edington and Davis.
Knights goalkeeper Ryan Blank kept the game from getting out of hand with his strong play.
Blank continued the solid effort in the second half, and the offense finally came around. Foothill scored the first three goals of the third to claim its first lead.
“We played pretty poorly on offense,” Knights coach Jon Fox said. “We weren’t making good decisions, we wanted to do a better job with our decision making on offense … And players made some big plays in the second half. Those kids showed a lot of heart on both sides.”
Case finished with three goals and two assists. Foothill’s Nate Marano and Ryan Falbo each scored twice.
Contact the writer: amorales@ocregister.com
