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Sports

San Clemente Rallies Past Corona del Mar, 11-8

The fourth-seeded Tritons outscore the Sea Kings, 7-3, in the second half of their quarterfinal boys lacrosse game and will face No. 1 Foothill in the semifinals Saturday.

It took San Clemente most of the first half to get over some playoff jitters and begin executing on offense. But once they did, the Tritons showed why they were chosen one of the top four seeds in the 2011 US Lacrosse Southern Section Division 1 Championships.

The fourth-seeded Tritons scored five unanswered goals in the second half and held on in the closing minutes to defeat fifth-seeded Corona del Mar, 11-8, Tuesday night in a quarterfinal playoff game at Thalassa Stadium in San Clemente. 

San Clemente overcame an erratic first half in which it shot fewer times (16 to 11) and committed more turnovers (15 to 10) and trailed, 5-4, at intermission. In the third quarter, however, the Tritons held the Sea Kings to only one shot and forced 11 turnovers while scoring four times themselves to lead by two, and never looked back.

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As a result, San Clemente (13-4) advances to Saturday's semifinals to face top-seeded Foothill (15-4), which defeated Los Alamitos, 14-6., at 2 p.m. In the other semifinal, No. 2 St. Margaret’s (12-2) will play No. 3 El Toro (16-2) at 4:30 p.m. Both semifinals will be played at San Clemente High.

Tritons coach Glen Miles said he was just glad to get there after a first-round bye and an anxious first half.

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“We were a little uptight in the beginning, and we talked about that,” said a hoarse Miles after the game. “At halftime, we talked about competing, we talked about poise, and we talked about opportunities. [The players] took advantage of their opportunities in the second half.”

In the first half, Corona del Mar came out strong behind its top goal scorer, Michael Keasey, who scored the first two goals of the game. But the Tritons never trailed by more than one after that and twice tied the score before Keasey scored again with 1:58 left to give the Sea Kings (14-6) a 5-4 lead.

San Clemente tied the score again two minutes into the second half on a goal by freshman sensation Peyton Garrett, assisted by Camen Piho. The Sea Kings went ahead once more on the second goal of the game by Donald Dalton, but Garrett tied the score, 6-6, on an assist from Robbie Burns. Then, with 4:18 left, Keasey was penalized two minutes for high-sticking and the Tritons took their first lead of the game on a goal by Bennett Jonas, followed by a goal from Burns that pushed the lead to 8-6.

The Tritons scored twice in the first three minutes of the fourth quarter on goals by Garrett and Kevin Ivie, and though the Sea Kings got two goals back by Hunter Molnar and Parker Ewles they could get no closer as Max Satossky scored with :09 remaining for San Clemente.

But the outstanding offensive player of the game was the freshman Garrett.

“Peyton did a good job in the second half. He is a very accurate shooter,” Miles said. “I was very proud of them the way they came back. I’m very happy for them to get to the semifinals.”

Awaiting San Clemente is the defending Division 1 champion Foothill Knights, who defeated the Tritons, 18-11, in the first game of the season. Miles said that though Foothill has been the best team in the county again this season, he’s eager to play them.

“I have a great deal of respect for [Knights coach] Jon Fox and their players. They’re a great team,” Miles said. “Hopefully, we’ll come out and give them a good game.”

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