SoCAL GIRLS: CIF-SS Playoffs: Beckman Forced to Forfeit

The Beckman girls varsity lacrosse team has been forced to forfeit its CIF-Southern Section Southern Division semifinal against Foothill-Orange County because it scheduled too many games.

The game will do down as a 1-0 victory for third-seeded Foothill-OC, which now advances to the Orange County championship game to face top-seeded Los Alamitos. The Griffins beat fourth-seeded El Toro, 12-9, on Saturday in the other semifinal.

The Orange County girls championship game will be played Tuesday, May 12, at 6 p.m., PDT, at Irvine Stadium.

“I think it’s outrageous,” Foothill-OC head coach Brian Cross said. “It’s not about the kids, it’s about everybody else. Nobody meant to do anybody any harm. I think it’s wrong.”

The Orange County Register reported Saturday that Beckman had reached the 20-game limit allowed for lacrosse.

Beckman, California’s eighth-ranked team, was 15-2 in full-length, non-tournament games going into Saturday. But the Patriots’ participation in a tournament pushed them over the limit.

“The coaches and players are devastated,” Beckman head coach Stacy Mathis told the Register. “We would have loved to have been there.”

Beckman athletic director Lance Neal told the Register that he deserves the blame.

“Ultimately, it’s my responsibility,” Neal told the Register. “We made a mistake.”

Neal told the Register that the lacrosse team had to withdraw from the tournament or the school would risk being sanctioned in other sports. Neal said he told the team Friday.

“It was heartbreaking,” Neal told the Register. “It was really tough to tell them. There were six seniors who really deserved to go on.”