The lacrosse team at Laguna Blanca is twice as old as many of its players, yet in its 33 years of existence it has never beaten Cate.
Until now.
The Owls made history Friday with an 11–6 home victory against their archrival.
“They out-hustled us, out-executed us, and deserved to win,” said Steven O’Neill, Cate’s head coach.
The Owls were led to victory by the Herculean effort of Austin Patrick, who scored all six of his goals in the second half.
After a slow first half rife with dropped balls, the third quarter began with a tie score of 4-4. Cate’s Albert Lee was the first to tally a goal.
Lee capitalized on one of Cate’s only man-up opportunities with a shot that found its way between the feet of goalie Jordan Slay. Cate would never again hold the lead and within short order Patrick was scoring goals with reckless abandon.
Patrick’s first goal came on one of the Owls’ seven man-up opportunities. His teammates set him up for a beautiful outside shot that streaked past the Cate goalie.
By the end of the quarter Patrick had his first hat trick in the bag, and the makings of a career game.
“We knew we were pretty evenly matched,” Patrick said. “We just wanted it more.”
After a slow first quarter Cate found itself with a 1-0 lead compliments of Randy Person’s first goal for the afternoon.
The Owls started the second quarter charged and ready for a battle. Senior Hunter Rusack laid a huge hit on a Cate player early in the quarter which set the tone for the rest of the game.
Rusack also scored the Owls’ first goal when he stripped the ball from Cate’s goalie and took advantage of the wide-open net.
“I’ve been waiting for so long to beat Cate,” Rusack said.
The second half of the game saw a near perfect performance from Laguna Blanca’s goalie, Jordan Slay, in contrast to a flattened Cate team.
“Slay has been great, he has a ton of saves,” said Laguna Blanca head coach Chauncey Kim.
Patrick found the goal three more times, including back-to-back shots in the fourth quarter. Patrick’s fifth goal was the result of on a loose ball he picked up in front of the Cate goal and quickly dumped into the back of the net. Next, he won the ensuing face-off, captured the ball, and took it all the way to the goal for a flawless solo shot.
“I give a lot of credit to the seniors,” said Kim, “They helped build this program.”
Cate is now 3-7, while Laguna is 5-2.
