Sea Queens Rule Trabuco Hills In Lacrosse, 14-10

After finishing the season with four losses in six games and plummeting in last week’s O.C. Coaches poll from fifth to ninth, many people were curious to see which Corona del Mar girls lacrosse team would show up Tuesday evening.

They didn’t have to wait long.

After spotting Trabuco Hills the first goal, the Sea Queens stormed back to score five consecutive goals within 4 1/2 minutes to cruise to a 14-10 victory over the eighth-seeded Mustangs in the first round of the US Lacrosse Southern Section Division 1 playoffs at Laguna Hills High.

The Sea Queens (12-7) advance to the quarterfinals Thursday, when they will play at top-seeded Foothill, which had a first-round bye. Game time is 5:30 p.m.

Corona del Mar lost to the Knights, 12-5, nearly two weeks ago but the game was competitive. Against third-seeded Beckman, the Sea Queens lost all four games (two in the Pacific Coast League) this season by a combined score of 74-29. Corona del Mar also lost once to fourth-seeded El Toro.

“We played Foothill and lost, but personally I feel we have a better chance against Beckman, which handled us pretty well, and Los Alamitos, which is always good,” third-year Sea Queens coach Aly Vislocky said. “We hadn’t been playing very well lately, but I felt confident that we would come out and play well tonight.”

However, against Foothill, Corona del Mar will be without one of its top players and leaders in Rhylie Nese. The senior was whistled for two stick fouls to the head of a Mustangs player and was given consecutive yellow cards within the first 11 minutes of the game. Nese missed the rest of the game and must sit out the next one too.

“That’s a bummer,” Vislocky said. “I’ve never had a player get two yellow cards in the same game before. I didn’t realize she’d miss the next game. I want to keep her involved with the team [against Foothill]. We need to win it for her.”

For the Sea Queens, it was their fourth meeting of the season against Trabuco Hills, which captured the Sea View League title last week. Corona del Mar lost the season opener to the Mustangs, but won the next two meetings, 5-4 and 11-8.

In the playoff opener, Corona del Mar came out smoking as junior Gabby Smith scored the first three goals of the game, the third on a free position shot, to stake her team to a 3-1 lead. The Sea Kings were much quicker than Trabuco Hills as Molly Rovzar ran through the middle of the Mustangs defense and passed behind the net to Torrey Attyah, who fed Smith for shot attempts. Attyah finished with five assists.

The Mustangs rallied to cut their deficit to 7-5 on two goals by Jesse Papageorge's, who had five goals in the game; however, Corona del Mar scored the next four goals to extend its lead to 11-5. Smith’s fifth goal of the game with four seconds left in the first half gave the Sea Queens a 12-6 advantage.

In the second half, Trabuco Hills got as close as four goals twice, but Sea Queens goalie Sarah Hostetler was outstanding in the cage, facing 31 shots and making 15 saves, nine in the second half. Corona del Mar finished with 39 shots against goalie Cyrena Malkowski, who had 10 saves for the Mustangs.

“That was one of Sarah’s best games of the year,” Vislocky said. “She has been working with our goalie coach and putting the time in individually to improve.”

In other girls Division 1 games:

No. 5 Santa Margarita 16, No. 12 El Dorado 8

No. 6 Mission Viejo 10, No. 11 Newport Harbor 7

No. 7 Tesoro 15, No. 10 Laguna Hills 13

Thursday's quarterfinals schedule:

No. 9 Corona del Mar at No. 1 Foothill, 5:45 p.m.

No. 5 Santa Margarita vs. No. 4 El Toro at Glen Yermo Elementary, 5 p.m.

No. 6 Mission Viejo at No. 3 Beckman, TBD

No. 7 Tesoro at No. 2 Los Alamitos, TBD