NEWPORT BEACH – Down a goal at halftime of Tuesday afternoon’s game against JSerra, Corona del Mar boys lacrosse coach G.W. Mix told his team it needed to dig a little bit deeper.
Goalie Hoyt Crance and the rest of the team got the message.
Behind 12 saves from the junior goalie, the Sea Kings knocked off the Lions, 8-5, in a nonleague game featuring two of the top teams in the county and state.
It was a tale of two halves for Corona del Mar (9-1), which is ranked No. 3 in Orange County, one spot behind JSerra.
JSerra (16-3, 4-0) scored four goals in the first quarter, including two in a span of 12 seconds. The Lions’ James Yanes added another goal early in the second quarter, helping JSerra build a 5-4 halftime advantage.
That’s when Mix told his team what it had to do.
“We challenged them at halftime,” Mix said. “(We told them) ‘You have to find something you didn’t know you had.’ “
The Sea Kings played perfect defense in the second half behind the play of Crance and the rest of the defense.
“In the beginning, we were a bit nervous, so we came out on our heels and we weren’t really ready to play,” Crance said. “After the goals got by us, we started to get into the flow of the game.”
With 6:30 left in the third quarter, Jason Simaan‘s goal propelled Corona del Mar in front of the Lions for the first time. The Sea Kings would add a pair of goals in the fourth quarter to seal the victory.
Nino Chavez led the team with three goals while Stephen Voe Der Ahe scored two.
“It’s really big,” Crance said of the victory. “They have a bunch of kids going to play in college, and we don’t necessarily have that right now. So it boosts our confidence. We were pretty banged up, so just overall it was a really good win for us.”
Contact the writer: mkatz@ocregister.com
