Aliso Lacrosse Drops a Close One to Laguna Hills

Aliso Niguel Men’s Lacrosse lost 10-8 to the Laguna Hills Hawks in a cold Wolverine Stadium Thursday night. 

The Wolverine defense was full of holes early in the game and Laguna Hills took advantage.  Laguna Hills Attackman Alex Salera had five goals in the first quarter.  Salera and the Hawks possessed the ball for the vast majority of the first quarter and Aliso did not get many opportunities to score.  Nick Webb also had a pair of goals in the first for the Hawks and they led the Wolverines 7-2. 

Aliso defenseman Ryan Wing won more faceoffs in the second and Aliso got more chances to score.  Nathan Smith and Ryan Lawler each had a goal for the Wolverines to go into halftime down 7-4. 

Action picked up in the second half.  Both goalies were racking up saves in the third quarter and there were more hard hits.  The hard hits led to penalties and questionable officiating.  Fans and coaches from both teams were frustrated with the poor officiating and very vocal about it.  The Hawks went into the final quarter with a 8-6 lead. 

The officiating was poor for both teams again in the fourth quarter and led to penalties.  Salera scored his seventh goal early in the fourth to stretch the Hawk lead.  Michael Traub and Chris Carmody scored in the fourth for the Wolverines but it would not be enough.  The Hawk defense stepped up and kept the Wolverines from scoring despite having the ball for the last two minutes of the game. 

Aliso Niguel (4-4, 1-1) will host the Dana Hills Dolphins Tuesday at Wolverine Stadium at 5:30 p.m. Laguna Hills (5-1, 1-0) will host the Capo Valley Cougars on Tuesday.  You can catch most 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
Ground balls:
Salera (3), Smith (6), Webb, M Lawson (2),  J Lawson, Stubbs, Lowande, Dahl (2), Johnson (3), Weigand
Assists:
Smith, Hosford, Lowande
Goals:
Webb (2), Johnson, Salera (7)
Saves:
Levantino (4)

ALISO NIGUEL
Ground balls:
Dale (3), Smith (2), Reed, Werner (2), Traub (3), Lawler, Murphy (3), Wing, Williams (9), Zimmer, Westlake, Abdulla (2), Cracchiolo
Assists:
Werner, Traub (4), Cracchiolo
Goals:
Dale, Smith, Lawler, Carmody, Traub (3), Werner
Saves:
Abdeen (6)