By Michael Carnow
WSL California Correspondent

CORONADO, Calif. – Senior attackman Bobby Braun said he and his Coronado teammates had enough of listening to the St. Ignatius Prep hype, and they set out to do something about it.

In the end, the Islanders accomplished something no other California team has done against the Wildcats in almost three years. Win.

Braun registered a co-game-high four points on two goals and two assists to lead 11^th-ranked Coronado to a 7-6 victory over No. 2 St. Ignatius Prep in a Northern California vs. Southern California CIF intersectional game Saturday afternoon.

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“I’m just really excited,” said Braun, whose team snapped St. Ignatius Prep’s 43-game winning streak against California opposition.

“We just wanted to come and prove ourselves against one of the best teams on the West Coast. To be honest, we were just sick and tired of hearing about how good St. Ignatius was. Just come out strong and control the tempo of the game, that’s what we wanted to do.”

Coronado Lacrosse vs St. Ignatius College Prep from Ted Bendrick on Vimeo.
The Islanders led by four goals late in the third quarter and held on as St. Ignatius rallied in the final 12 minutes.

St. Ignatius had not lost to a California team since April 4, 2006, when it fell 12-8 to Danville Monte Vista.

Junior attackman Eddie Vita and sophomore attackman Kyle Runyon each added three points on two goals and one assist, and senior middie Jackson Cusick scored once to help Coronado (2-0) remain unbeaten. 

The Islanders won 10 of the game’s 17 face-offs, and used the extra possession time early to build a lead.

“We really prepare for each game one at a time,” Coronado head coach Alex Cade said. “For us, we saw this as our second game of the season and St. Ignatius’s sixth. We just wanted to take another step forward and focus on getting to the playoffs again. This team has a lot of heart and a lot of fight, that’s really what pulled us through against an excellent St. Ignatius team today.”

In a losing effort, senior attackman Billy Mattimore registered a co-game-high four points on three goals and one assist, senior attackman Carlton Fisher added three points on two goals and one assist and senior middie Jack Farr scored once for St. Ignatius (5-1).

The game was tied, 3-3, in the second quarter when Runyon put the Islanders ahead to stay and sparked what turned out to be a decisive four-goal run. Runyon scored the go-ahead goal with 3:42 remaining in the first half. 

Vita capped the Islanders’ four-goal run, scoring with 6:24 to play in the third quarter, to put Coronado ahead 7-3. It turned out to be just enough.

The Wildcats scored the game’s final three goals and closed within one after Mattimore scored with 31 seconds left in regulation to make it 7-6. 

On the ensuing face-off, Fisher had to leave the field because of a cut on his right kneecap. St. Ignatius lost the draw, and Coronado held on to win.

“They outplayed us today,” St. Ignatius head coach Chris Packard said. “They played the game hard and played it the right way. I mean, it would have been nice to have Fisher on the face-off, down one with 30 seconds to play, but that’s just unfortunately how things go sometimes. It was a hard-fought battle, and they just came away with the win."