Tritons Succumb to No. 1 Foothill in Boys Lacrosse Semifinal

 This week the talk around the Foothill boys lacrosse team hasn’t been all about offensive sets or game strategy or even the next opponent. It’s been about the “Five-Peat.” While that may sound contrary to most team’s one-game-at-a-time philosophy, and maybe even a bit arrogant, nobody could blame them.

After all, for the top-ranked Knights, it’s all about the big picture and another US Lacrosse Southern Section championship.

Foothill took another step toward a fifth consecutive championship Saturday with a convincing 12-6 victory over fourth-ranked San Clemente in the semifinals of the Orange Count Championships at San Clemente High.

Standing in the way of the powerful Knights (16-4) and their lofty expectations is St. Margaret’s, which eliminated El Toro in double-overtime, 7-6, in the other semifinal. That sets up a highly-anticipated finals showdown between arguably the two best teams this season Wednesday at Mission Viejo High (7 p.m.).

“We want to get to a ‘Five-Peat’ and we’ve been working hard toward that [goal],” said senior midfielder Josh Peterman, who scored three goals against the Tritons. “We want to keep the tradition going, [but] there’s a lot of pressure involved.”

San Clemente (13-5) made the Knights work for their win. Bret Miller opened the scoring on an assist from Kevin Ivie to give the Tritons a 1-0 lead. Despite giving up four consecutive goals to Foothill to trail 4-1, San Clemente fought back to trade goals through the next six minutes and trail at halftime, 6-3.

“It’s very tough to come back on that team,” Tritons coach Glen Miles said. “They have good defenders.”

Foothill has been a second-half team all season and Saturday was no exception. The Knights’ Eric Adamson, Peterson and Andrew Dainko scored three consecutive goals in 1:56 to break open the contest at 9-3. After a second goal by the Tritons’ Bennett Jonas, the Knights scored twice more on goals by Cole Cameron and Adamson, who finished with four goals and four assists.

“We got a man up to start the second half [on a Tritons penalty] and that helped us settle down,” Knights coach Jon Fox said.

Said Miles: “Frankly, we played poorly in the second half.”

San Clemente did outscore the Knights in the fourth quarter on goals by Max Satossky and Chris Kazimi, and Tritons goalie Ian Jameson played well in the net, making 10 saves as the Knights peppered the defense with 30 shots. But San Clemente also committed 20 turnovers to Foothill’s nine, and attempted 19 shots against Knights goalie Josh Giglio, who needed only four saves to get the victory.

“San Clemente did a great job and I thought their goalie played really well,” Fox said. “We talked about staying with their guys and we got some back-checks to keep them from running up the field. Our guys played pretty well.”

Notes: Foothill starting attacker Brad Bochesa suffered a serious leg injury and will be out for the remainder of the playoffs. Fox said Bochesa was playing with his dog at home when he fell through a plate-glass door and had eight inches of glass stuck in his leg. Fox said Bochesa, a junior, had surgery on Friday and is doing well, but is expected to be out of action for at least three months.

US Lacrosse Southern Section Orange County Championship Schedule:

Boys Division 1 -- No. 1 Foothill vs. No. 2 St. Margaret's at Mission Viejo High, Wednesday, May 11, 7 p.m.

Girls Division 1 – No. 2 Los Alamitos vs. No. 5 Santa Margarita at Mission Viejo High, Wednesday, May 11, 4:30 p.m.

Boys Division 2 -- No. 1 Mission Viejo vs. No. 3 Dana Hills at Aliso Niguel High, Thursday, May 12, 7 p.m.

Girls Division 2 -- No. 1 Capistrano Valley vs. No. 3 St. Margaret's at Aliso Niguel High, Thursday, May 12, 5 p.m.