Aliso Loses a Thriller to League Leaders

Aliso Niguel Men’s Lacrosse lost in the closing seconds to the Sea View League leading Laguna Hills Hawks Thursday night at Laguna Hills High.

Aliso Niguel played considerably better than they did the last time they played the Hawks.  The game did not start out as planned for the Wolverines.  Hawk Midfielder Matt Lawson picked up a ground ball off the opening face off and scored just 15 seconds into the game.  Their lead would not last long though because Wolverine Midfielder Nathan Smith cranked a shot past the Hawk goalie to tie the game up at one.  Michael Traub passed it to Senior Captain Ryan Dale who scored to give the Wolverines a 2-1 lead at the end of the first.

Laguna Hills Captains Alex Salera and Matt Lawson each put up goals in the second quarter.  Aliso had a 4-3 lead late in the second quarter thanks to the solid Aliso defense of Jordyn Williams, Derek Zimmer, and Ryan Wing and the good goalie play of Firas Abdeen.  Matt Lawson and Stephen Weigand managed to score right before halftime to give the Hawks a 5-4 lead.

At the beginning of the third quarter, Jordyn Williams intercepted an errant clear by the Hawks and threw a perfect cross-field pass to Nolan Werner.  Werner passed it to Michael Traub who scored to tie the game at five.  After two goals by Alex Salera, the Laguna Hills crowd was loud and fired up.  Connor Reed and Nick Abdulla silenced the Hawk fans when Reed picked up a ground ball and passed it to Abdulla for a goal to tie the game at seven.  Hawk Midfielder Ryan Beksa was called for a slash penalty and a conduct penalty and was sent to the penalty box for 90 seconds.  Another Hawk player got a penalty so the Wolverines were two men up at the end of the third.  After a series of passes, Traub fed Ryan Dale for a goal to give the Wolverines an 8-7 lead going into the fourth.

After a few easy goals and questionable calls by the officials, both teams found themselves in a nail biter.  Laguna Hills has breezed through the Sea View League and this was by far the closest game they have played this season.  With the score tied at 10, the Laguna Hills coach called a timeout with 14 seconds left in the game.  Hawks star Alex Salera took the ball from midfield, took a few steps forward and cranked a shot from the 32-yard line.  The shot flew past the defense and Abdeen to give the Hawks the lead with just six seconds left.  The Wolverines were unable to get a shot off and lost 11-10.

The Laguna Hills Hawks (12-1, 5-0) are now ranked 10th in CIF.  They will travel to Capo Valley on April 17 to play the Cougars.  The Aliso Niguel Wolverines (5-7, 2-3) will host Great Oak High School April 17 at 7:30 p.m. You can catch Aliso Men’s Lacrosse games live and on replay as well as other Aliso Niguel sporting events courtesy of Kaard Bombe at livestream.com/ansn.

LAGUNA HILLS HAWKS
Ground Balls:
Salera (4), Smith (7), Hosford (3), Lawson (5), Nguyen, Perales (4), Lowande (2), Dahl, Sullivan, Jose, Johnson (5), Eckert, Weigand

Assists:
Salera (2), Lawson, Dahl

Goals:
Hosford, Lawson (4), Weigand, Salera (5)

Saves:
Levatino (7)

ALISO NIGUEL WOLVERINES
Ground Balls:
Dale (4), Smith, Traub (3), Wing, Williams (5), Zimmer, Murphy (8), Abdulla (3), Reed (10)

Assists:
Werner, Traub (4), Lawler, Cracchiolo, Reed

Goals:
Dale (2), Smith, Lawler, Traub (5), Abdulla

Saves:
Abdeen (11)