SoCAL BOYS: Foothill-OC Rallies to Win 3rd Straight Orange County Title

By Nathan Max
WSL Executive Editor

Sophomore attackman Cameron Cole scored a game-high four goals to lead Foothill-Orange County to a come-from-behind, 10-8, upset victory over No. 15 Corona del Mar in the Orange County championship game Tuesday night at Irvine Stadium.

Junior attackman Tucker Rowe added four points on a goal and three assists to help the Knights (20-5) overcome a five-goal deficit to win their third straight Orange County title.

“It’s just unreal,” Foothill head coach Jon Fox said. “I’m so proud of this senior class. It’s the first time on varsity for most of them. They’ve worked hard, and it’s paid off in the end.”

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With the win, the Knights advanced to the CIF-Southern Section championship game, where they will go for their third straight regional title. Foothill-OC will next face unbeaten Loyola-Los Angeles, which also scored a dramatic, come-from-behind win Tuesday night in the Los Angeles Area championship game.

The Cubs trailed Mira Costa by four goals at halftime before coming back to win, 8-7, in double-overtime to improve to 16-0.

The Southern Section championship game will be staged at Mira Costa High School on Friday night at 7:30 p.m., PDT.

“We’re excited for the opportunity to be there,” Fox said. “We know we’re going to face a great team, an undefeated team, and we’ve just got to come in ready to play.”

On Tuesday, senior middie Chris Cole scored three goals, junior attackman Taylor DeBerry added a goal and an assist and senior middie James Song had a goal to round out the scoring for Foothill, which has won six straight.

Defensively, junior goalie Nathan Kleponis saved 13 shots.

In defeat, senior middie Noah Molnar had a team-high four points on two goals and two assists, Daniel Noto scored twice and David Kidushim added a goal and an assist for Corona del Mar (20-2).

“I’m very disappointed but proud of my kids and impressed with Foothill,” Corona del Mar head coach Mark Todd said. “They played a perfect game. We got out on them early, and they never quit. They dug deep, came back and won.”

In the beginning, it looked like the game would be a Corona del Mar rout.

The Sea Kings rolled to a 5-1 lead by the end of the first quarter, an advantage they extended to 7-2 after Molnar scored with 2:56 remaining in the first half. But Foothill answered with four goals in the final 2:16 of the second quarter to close within, 7-6.

The run then continued in the second half. By the time it was over, Foothill had scored seven straight to take a 9-7 lead after DeBerry fired one home with 10:48 remaining in regulation. Molnar scored 18 seconds later to bring it to 9-8, but Rowe pushed the lead back to two when he scored with 7:21 to play.

The teams then played scoreless lacrosse for the final seven-plus minutes.

“We started winning some ground balls, Kleponis made some big stops and we got the transition going,” Fox said. “We started getting good looks in close and started finishing one after the other. We just got some momentum and kept going with it.”