SAN JUAN CAPISTRANO – No. 2 St. Margaret’s didn’t expect an outright Trinity League boys lacrosse championship to come easy.
In the first half Saturday, No. 4 JSerra was making the Tartans work for everything. It seemed as though the game was going to go down to the wire as St. Margaret’s was clinging to a one-goal lead at the half.
Then the whistles to open the third quarter were blown, and the Tartans erased any doubt.
St. Margaret’s scored seven third-quarter goals to blow the game open and cruised to a 17-11 victory against the Lions at JSerra. The win gave the Tartans the league title.
“We weren’t moving the ball well,” Alexander Waller said. “We were being selfish, so (Coach Glen Miles) was telling us to keep pushing it and stay positive.”
The unselfish play made a major difference. The Tartans (16-4) scored five goals in the first two quarters, then poured in seven in the first six minutes of the second half.
Waller was the battery that charged the St. Margaret’s attack. He scored three of his six goals in the quarter.
The Tartans one-goal halftime lead stretched out to seven.
JSerra (13-4) closed to four after Yuta Murata scored a goal with 1:40 left in the third. St. Margaret’s answered by scoring the next three goals to push the lead back to seven.
It was the Tartans’ 14th consecutive win after starting the season 2-4.
“We have a new coaching staff, so there was a lot going on, which kind of contributed to the slow start,” Miles said. “(The kids) started to believe in the system. There was a little bit more buy in.”
Even though his team defeated Corona del Mar and JSerra twice in the past two weeks, Miles said there’s room for improvement heading into the playoffs.
