The boys lacrosse team beat the Burlingame Panthers 6-2 in a one-sided battle on Tuesday night to advance to the CCS semifinals.
The Panthers won the opening faceoff, but the Bears’ defense was immediately all over them. Junior defender Marco Palacios and freshman defender Dylan Kryger forced quick turnovers, opening up space for M-A to look to attack.
The Bears’ offense took advantage of the opportunity. Junior attacker Zachary Sokol advanced the ball up to senior attacker Carey Wolf, who worked his way past his defender with a fake spin move. Wolf slipped a shot into the goal for the first score of the game, putting M-A up 1-0 with six minutes left in the first quarter.
Burlingame was soon able to get their first open shot, but it landed just wide of the left post, and the Bears regained possession. Wolf then found junior attacker Will Torre, who hooked his shot off the left post and in, adding to the lead, 2-0.
With 30 seconds remaining, the Panthers were looking for a final shot to end the quarter, but Kryger stepped up again, intercepting the pass to keep the Bears in front 2-0 to conclude the first quarter.
M-A showcased their offensive dominance out of the gate in the second quarter. Sokol found space for a shot through traffic and into the back of the net, increasing the lead to 3-0 with 9:34 on the clock.
The Bears continued to play suffocating defense, frustrating the Panthers’ offense and forcing bad passes and turnovers. Once again, M-A made the extra pass to senior attacker Matthew Sanford, who converted off a catch-and-shoot to stretch the Bears’ advantage to 4-0 with 4:03 in the half.
Burlingame regained possession, but again the Bears stood their ground defensively, driving the Panthers out of the box and leaving them unable to get a shot off to end the half 4-0 M-A.
“We are a great team overall, but we need to be at our best, especially in CCS,” senior goalkeeper Caden Kadivar said.
The Bears were back in attack mode out of halftime. Despite pressure from the Panthers’ defense, Torre was able to find Wolf, who slung it past the goalkeeper to put M-A up 5-0 just a minute into the half.
But the Panthers finally found a response of their own. Seconds later, they were able to connect their first goal of the game, chipping the lead down to 5-1.
After an impressive save by Kadivar, the Bears’ offense beat the Panthers on transition as Wolf drew attention of the defenders. Freshman attacker Brody Chesler slipped by and bouncing a shot through the goalkeeper’s legs and in, pushing the score to 6-1 with 4:28 remaining in the third quarter.
However, Burlingame was able to match the Bears’ goal, sneaking a shot into the middle of the defense two minutes later to cut the lead down to 6-2 to end the quarter.
With a quarter left and Burlingame’s season on the line, they started to panic and force unreasonable passes and shots. Junior defender Will Clark and Palacios stepped up significantly, adding stress to Burlingame’s offense by not letting anyone past them and knocking balls loose.
With time running down in the fourth quarter, the Bears started to play keep-away from the Panthers to run down the clock, and finished the game in a 6-2 victory for M-A, advancing to the CCS semifinals.
“Defense played physically and gritty, offense went out and did their thing,” Clark said.
“We can go all the way, and if we play with everything, we can win it all,” Palacios said.
The Bears will stay home and face off against Live Oak on Thursday at 7 p.m.
