Men's lacrosse loses to Sonoma State in playoffs
By Nick Pinkerton
The men's lacrosse team concluded their best season in the past three years with a West Coast Lacrosse League playoff berth.
They achieved a No. 22 national ranking, but fell to Sonoma State in a 15-6 loss last Saturday in Rohnert Park.
Santa Clara (9-6) came into the postseason with previous experience against Sonoma State -- the Broncos lost to the Wolves 10-6 on Feb. 10.
"We knew their big players, where their weaknesses were and how to attack that. The problem was we did not execute our game plan," said Mark Swoboda, team captain.
Part of the game plan included a new defense that was designed to shut down Sonoma State's best attackers. The system failed, as Santa Clara double-teamed too early and left opponents open for easy goals.
"We weren't playing good positional defense -- we would chase a lot with our sticks instead of getting good body position," said captain and goalkeeper Phil Donnici.
On the offensive end, Santa Clara didn't generate enough scoring opportunities. Two of the team's midfielders were injured and could not compete.
"They were just taking the ball away from our offense," said club president Matt Whitmire. "We couldn't hold onto the ball."
When asked about home field advantage, the players had differing thoughts.
"The team knows the terrain, they know where to bounce the shots, they have their fans. The score would have been different had we played at Santa Clara," said Donnici.
"I think it was us not executing," countered Swoboda.
The Broncos were fortunate enough to get into the playoffs, as they came from behind to pull off an upset over Cal Poly San Luis Obispo on April 19.
Down 4-0 in the first half, the Broncos netted their first goal with less than 10 seconds remaining in the half.
"That was kind of a big momentum booster," said Donnici.
Despite the last-second heroics, the team was still putting on a performance as sloppy as the muddy field they played on.
"We just kind of told them, 'You're not playing bad if you stop the unforced turnovers,'" said head coach Gary Podesta.
Santa Clara performed well in the second half by minimizing the amount of mistakes and running a more controlled offense.
The game's critical moment came when the Broncos had a 9-8 lead. Donnici ran back to the goal and made a save on his knees that prevented the game-tying goal from going in.
On the next possession, Matt Paver scored what turned out to be the game-winning goal.
"It wasn't pretty, but we just did what we needed to do," said Swoboda.
Though the Broncos lost last weekend, they still have a chance to qualify for the national tournament. A few of the teams currently ranked higher than Santa Clara lost last weekend to unranked opponents and are expected to fall in the polls, said Podesta.
Contact Nick Pinkerton at (408) 551-1918 or npinkerton@scu.edu.