The boys lacrosse team dominated the Live Oak Acorns 6-1 on Thursday evening to advance to the CCS finals.
The Acorns won the opening faceoff, but the Bears were quick to react, giving the Acorns little ground. The Bears applied continuous pressure to the Acorns, passing methodically around the perimeter of Live Oak’s goal.
Senior attacker Carey Wolf soon found space for a close shot on goal, but it was blocked by the Acorns’ goalkeeper. Live Oak made a brief offensive run, but it was cut short by senior goalkeeper Caden Kadivar snagging their shot attempt.
Kadivar ran the ball all the way downfield and made an attempt to score himself. Despite missing, M-A continued to hold superior field positioning, allowing senior attacker Ben Skirboll to take three shots on goal. While none of these panned out, it was clear that the Bears were the dominant force on the field as the quarter ended 0-0.
M-A won the faceoff and wasted no time attacking the Acorns’ goal. The Bears slipped a shot right past the goalkeeper, bumping the score up to 1-0 just a minute into the second quarter. However, Live Oak retaliated quickly, pressuring the M-A net and scoring in close to tie the score at 1-1.
Despite the setback, the Bears remained in control, consistently intercepting passes and making numerous shots on the Live Oak goal. With eight minutes left in the quarter, Torre fired a shot past the Acorns’ goalkeeper, putting M-A ahead 2-1.
The Bears took a brief timeout and hit the field with intensity, rapidly scoring again to widen their lead to 3-1. Building on their momentum, junior midfielder Sam Huddleston dunked another shot in from close range, establishing a dominant 4-1 advantage with just under six minutes left in the quarter.
The Acorns floundered on offense, struggling to maintain possession for long enough to mount a sustained push on the Bears’ goal. Skirboll and junior attacker Zachary Sokol continued to counterattack, but the clock ran out before either team scored again, and the period ended with M-A commanding a definitive 4-1 lead.
Despite renewed energy and aggression from Live Oak, M-A continued to dominate throughout the third quarter. The Acorns came in determined, winning the opening faceoff and taking a shot, but expert defense allowed the Bears to quickly regain control.
“I think our defense was very good. We only let up one goal,” junior defender William Clark said. “Shoutout to our goalie Caden Kadivar. Amazing game, had many saves. Defense held it down while offense performed.”
But while M-A continued to make attacks on the Acorns, they were able to hold their ground, blocking out shots from Skirboll, senior attacker Matthew Sanford, and Wolf. Live Oak pushed to make shots of their own, but the Bears’ suffocating defense allowed them to control possession.
Skirboll was able to take possession, slinging the ball past the goalkeeper to put the Bears up 5-1 with just 16 seconds left in the quarter. In a last-ditch attempt, Live Oak took an aggressive shot but was unable to score, ending the third quarter at 5-1 with M-A ahead.
“We watched a ton of film, kept stats on all their players and saw what their tendencies were,” Kadivar said. “We were able to see what they were like before we played them, and that was definitely key.”
With only a quarter left, the Acorns began to scramble to try to come back. Skirboll attempted to make an attack, but was halted by a foul on Live Oak. Still, the Bears were able to retain possession, and Huddleston was able to bounce a shot into the net, pushing the score to 6-1.
Live Oak continued to push offensively, but expert defense from the Bears and impressive saves from Kadivar prevented them from advancing. As time ran down, M-A focused on retaining possession and keeping the ball away from the Acorns, and finished the game with a 6-1 win. This win allowed the Bears to advance to the CCS finals.
“I think our preparation leading up to this week was really good. We didn’t have a great game on Tuesday, and we used Wednesday as a practice to bounce back from that performance, and we came out here and executed like we knew we were going to,” senior defender Matthew Kwon said.
The Bears battled the Stevenson Pirates in the CCS championship on Saturday at 1:30 p.m.
