CdM falls in boys’ lacrosse final

MISSION VIEJO — A 69-second reversal ended the season for the Corona del Mar High boys’ lacrosse team. It was a position the Sea Kings couldn’t believe they were in right before halftime of the U.S. Lacrosse Southern Section South Division final.

The top-seeded Sea Kings had taken their first lead against St. Margaret’s with 4:36 left in the first half. The lead lasted only 54 seconds.

During a 69-second span late in the second quarter, the No. 3 Tartans exploded for four goals. They never looked back, knocking off the defending champion Sea Kings, 12-7, at Mission Viejo High on Wednesday.

“Yeah, I remember it well,” CdM Coach G.W. Mix said of the Tartans’ run that proved to be the difference. “When you’ve got a faceoff kid as talented as [St. Margaret’s Ryan Harnisch], those runs are tough to stop. We made an adjustment. We thought we made it a couple of faceoffs too late.”

Harnisch, a University of Denver commit, hurt the Sea Kings for the second time this year.

The Sea Kings went into the night ranked fourth in the state by LaxPower.com and with only two losses all season. One of those setbacks came at St. Margaret’s last month. Back then, the Tartans edged CdM, 12-11, in sudden-death overtime.

They didn’t need to go past regulation to top the Sea Kings (18-3) this time.

The Tartans (20-4) ran away with the Orange County crown and qualified for Saturday’s Southern Section final against Harvard-Westlake (15-3) at West Torrance High. “Sometimes you just get beat,” Mix told his players, “and we got beat.”

The Tartans prevented CdM from defending its Southern Section championship. The Sea Kings returned to the site of last year’s Southern Section title game and hung with St. Margaret’s for the first 16 minutes.

Getting back to the big stage wasn’t a guarantee for CdM. In the way was St. Margaret’s, ranked ninth in the state.

The Tartans were the lone Orange County-based team to beat CdM. Since that one-goal loss at St. Margaret’s on April 20, CdM clamped down defensively. Its next five opponents averaged only 4.4 goals.

The Tartans produced four goals in 69 seconds late in the second quarter.

Nick Shanks scored during St. Margaret’s 4-0 run, as did Harnisch, Chase Williams and Samuel Harnisch.

Ryan Harnisch kept winning faceoffs, helping St. Margaret’s turn a one-goal deficit into a 6-3 lead at halftime

The Sea Kings had no answers for Harnisch, or Williams, who led everyone with four goals. They lifted St. Margaret’s to its 18th straight victory and handed CdM its third South Division final loss in the last five years.

St. Margaret’s became only the sixth team to hold CdM to single-digit goals this year. Seniors Casey Mix and Chris Von Der Ahe led the Sea Kings with two goals apiece.

Jack Ortlieb, playing in his second game after suffering a hamstring injury at St. Margaret’s, had one goal. The Tartans did a good job slowing down the Holy Cross-bound senior.

Ortlieb missed four games because of the injury. With the Tartans focused on Ortlieb, other CdM players had room to operate in the first half.

Brett Nelson and Mix brought the Sea Kings back from one-goal deficits in the first half. Nelson tied the game, 1-1, with an unassisted goal midway through the opening quarter.

When Alex Waller gave St. Margaret’s back the lead, Mix answered. The attacker converted a power-play goal three minutes into the second quarter and evened it at 2-2.

The Sea Kings seemed to have the momentum, as they took their first lead 4 1/2 minutes later. Von Der Ahe scrambled in front of the goalie and bounced in a shot to create a 3-2 lead.