ORANGE — Before the CIF-SS took over the playoff system in lacrosse in 2020, St. Margaret’s was the reigning US Lacrosse Southern Section champion.
After a five-year championship drought, the St. Margaret’s boys lacrosse team beat Loyola 10-9 Friday at El Modena High to win its first CIF-SS Division 1 championship.
St. Margaret’s (20-2) was ranked No. 1 in the CIF-SS poll all season and did not lose a game to a Southern Section team. The Tartans beat Corona del Mar and Mater Dei by double-digit margins in the playoffs to reach the championship game.
“It feels incredible. I’m just really happy for our players,” St. Margaret’s coach Brian Kelly said. “They were the ones that set their goals for this year and were willing to do the things they needed to do to achieve them.”
St. Margaret’s beats Loyola 10-9 to win its first ever CIF-SS Division 1 championship. Tartans won the US Lacrosse Section title in 2019. @ocvarsity @SteveFryer @latsondheimer @SMESAthletics @James_Escarcega @CIFSS @cifsstaylor @ocvarsityguy pic.twitter.com/iQa0snSiLV
— Michael Huntley (@mikehuntley63) May 11, 2024
The two teams previously played each other April 16 and St. Margaret’s beat the Cubs 6-4.
“A huge reason why I came to St. Margaret’s is the tradition of winning here,” St. Margaret’s senior Austin Hicks said. “This is what I’ve been working for all four years of high school. It was 100 percent a full-team effort. We couldn’t be here without all of our guys.”
Both teams had a bye in the first round of the Division 1 playoffs. Loyola beat Santa Margarita and defending champion Foothill to reach the title game.
Loyola (14-6) won the inaugural Division 1 championship in 2021 and was the runner-up in 2023.
With the game tied at 9 and just over two minutes remaining, Loyola was whistled for a penalty and St. Margaret’s called a timeout. With a man advantage, the Tartans ran a play behind the net where Andrew Toubin passed to Johnny Iavarone at the doorstep for the go-ahead goal with 1:51 remaining.
Adam Toubin to Johnny Iavarone for the go-ahead goal with 1:51 left in the game.
St. Margaret’s 10, Loyola 9 with 1:51 left @ocvarsity @SMESAthletics @SteveFryer @latsondheimer pic.twitter.com/7NjwqQazmR
— Michael Huntley (@mikehuntley63) May 11, 2024
“It’s a little endline play that we put in the Mater Dei game and I didn’t know if Loyola was going to see it,” Kelly said. “It’s one thing we can get to pretty easily when they shut Hicks off which they were doing. Our players got to it, I didn’t even call it.”
Loyola was flagged for an illegal stick in the final 30 seconds of the game which is a non-releasable penalty. The Cubs got the ball but failed to get a shot off before time expired.
Hicks, a Duke signee, led St. Margaret’s with five goals.
“Austin really stepped up this year in a leadership role,” Kelly said. “I really challenged him at the end of last year that our best player had to be our hardest worker and our leader. He grew so much in that role and he’s a huge part of our success this year.”
“Once coach BK asked me to become the leader I could be, I think it struck a chord with me and it pushed me to be the best leader,” Hicks said.
Loyola went on a 3-0 run in the third quarter to take an 8-7 lead.
Everything that could have gone wrong went wrong for St. Margaret’s during that four-minute stretch, but the Tartans found a way to weather the storm and tie the game entering the fourth period.
“They are resilient and they’ve been in big games and we’ve won in a lot of different ways this year,” Kelly said. “I think our guys have been in a lot of different situations this year and they’ve come out on the right side of them. I think it gives them confidence not to panic.”
Freshman Tripp King led Loyola with four goals. Ben Horowitz had two goals and Finn Hazelton added a goal and an assist.
St. Margaret’s got a big performance out of a freshman as well with two goals from Brody Booen. Defenseman Matt Arena had three forced turnovers including the one that led to St. Margaret’s scoring the go-ahead goal.
Tartans goalkeeper Eben O’Brien had 12 saves and Alex Trikas had seven ground balls.
This is the second consecutive season that the Division 1 championship was decided by one goal.
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