Men’s Club Lacrosse Finishes the Season Strong
Photo by Greg Mengis. Mens Club Lacrosse following their final game of the season.
On the heels of their inaugural season under head coach Manny Rapkin, Santa Clara Men’s Club Lacrosse would not go out without a fight. In a thrilling back-and-forth battle against the eighth-ranked Cal Poly Mustangs, the Broncos were defeated 12-11 at nearby Los Gatos High School.
Rapkin is a seasoned lacrosse coach, spending 10 years at Grand Canyon University as an assistant club lacrosse coach during the 2010-2011 season and then head coach from 2011-2019. He then took his experience to the NCAA Division III level, where he coached at Vassar College and Southern New Hampshire University until 2023.
Rapkin’s strong coaching has shown throughout the Western Collegiate Lacrosse League playoffs so far. His Broncos beat the No. 14 team, California Golden Bears 14-13 on April 19 to punch their ticket to the semi-finals.
In this game, however, Cal Poly struck first with two goals by Sean Waterman in the first five minutes of play.
The Broncos played five strong minutes of defense before John Morris ’25 got through a handful of defenders to get the Broncos on the board. Zander Murray Osborne got the final goal of the quarter, giving the Mustangs a 3-1 lead.
The second quarter had a different storyline with both teams netting three goals. Broncos’ season goal leader Thomas Honey ’25 netted one, and Michael Ray ’28 set up Jack Hoeller ’28 for his first goal of the season. All-conference attacker Waterman scored one more to give him a hat trick. The half ended 6-4 in favor of the Mustangs.
This lead didn’t last long, however, with the Broncos scoring a quick three goals in the first five minutes of the third quarter. Coming out of a timeout from the Mustangs, Aidan Oates ’25 added one more to the lead, making it 8-6 Broncos.
Bronco goaltender Ryan Rosselli ’26 kept the team in it just as much as the offense. He finished the game with a 60% save percentage to back up his season average of 15.273 saves per game— the best such stat line in the Western Collegiate Lacrosse League and a top-10 mark nationwide.
The fourth quarter is when the Mustangs showed why they are No. 8 in the nation, scoring three goals compared to the Broncos’ two. Jack Cipriani ’27 kept Santa Clara fighting with a timely goal with just 1:48 left on the clock.
The Mustangs won the ensuing faceoff and milked the clock to seal the deal. Although this may not have been the ending the Broncos wanted, they proved as much as they could.
“We had a lot of injuries which fueled us to play for our teammates who couldn’t,” Evan Westervelt ’26 said. “People stepped up when given the opportunity and, by the end, we were competing with the best teams in the nation through discipline and grit.”
Westervelt, named second-team all-conference, was one of five Broncos to hold all-conference honors. Jack Partovi ’25 was named first team, Honey and Cipriani were named third team, while Oates and Tyler King ’25 were honorable mentions.
The Broncos look to carry their momentum into an uncertain 2025-26 season—with 11 seniors graduating, the program will be in the hands of a young foundation that is still being built.
“As a team, our standard is to win the WCLL and play in the national tournament in pursuit of bringing a national championship home to the Broncos,” Westervelt added. “As the new president of SCU Men’s Lacrosse, I will do everything I can to lead this program towards that goal.”