Los Alamitos' Andrew Reynolds scores one of his four goals with Santa Barbara defender Preston Schlagel's hand on his head. (Presidio Sports Photo)
Just because Los Alamitos had lost four straight games entering Wednesday’s first-round CIF playoff match with Santa Barbara, didn’t mean the Griffins were going to lay down.
Los Alamitos was getting beat up towards the end of the regular season but bounced back in a big way with a 10-6 opening round victory in the Dons’ pool.
“So out here, it was a big confidence booster to get that first goal on the first possession. Thank god everybody got feeling that momentum,” said Los Alamitos head coach David Carlson.
Santa Barbara's Nick Johnson looks for an opening in the Los Alamitos defense.
The momentum really started to flow for the Griffins in the second quarter, when Los Al scored three of the last four goals of the half to grab a 6-3 lead.
“We cut it to 6-3 at half but still a three-goal difference against a really good team is really hard to overcome, especially in the playoffs,” said Dons senior Alec Linz.
The Dons never got closer than three goals in the second half.
“We had a couple of mental breakdowns, like in the middle of the game that led to a run from them that put us down,” Linz said. “We decided to stick it out and stay with them throughout the whole game. It just wasn’t enough in the end.”
Andrew Reynolds recorded a game-high four goals to lead the Griffins’ offensive effort. Kenneth Keller and Chris Ameling added two goals each for Los Alamitos, which reached double figures in scoring for the first time in weeks.
Los Alamitos’ defense did its part by defusing all but one of Santa Barbara’s 6-on-5 opportunities.
“It’s crucial. We just had some troubles this year putting away our 6-on-5s,” Linz said. “Yeah, it definitely hurts.”
One such opportunity was snuffed just after halftime when Linz drew an ejection on Los Alamitos’ goalie. The Griffins rotated a field player into the cage and stopped the Dons from scoring.
The next two goals were scored by Los Alamitos as the game opened up to 8-3.
But the Dons weren’t quite done. Evan Robertson scored just before the end of the third quarter and Preston Schlagel converted Santa Barbara’s lone 6-on-5 early in the fourth quarter. A goal from Los Alamitos was quickly answered by Santa Barbara on Robertson’s second goal on an assist from Linz.
If Santa Barbara had been able to succeed on their next 6-on-5, it would have made it 9-7 with just under three minutes remaining. But it didn’t happen, and Chris Ameling gave the Griffins a 10-6 lead on the following possession.
Cristian Bridley and Roberston both scored two goals for the Dons, who finish their season with a 20-9 record.
“I think we did a real nice job at the end of the year,” said Dons head coach Mark Walsh. “We were beating some really good teams by several goals and showing them we could play. We just weren’t able to break the hump and beat anybody in the top six of our division.”
Los Al (17-11) most likely advances to meet El Toro on Saturday in the Division I quarterfinals.
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LOS ALAMITOS 10, SANTA BARBARA 6
Los Alamitos 1 5 2 2 – 10
Santa Barbara 1 2 1 2 – 6
LA Scores – Reynolds 4, Keller 2, Ameling 2, Merrill, Lees
SB Scores – Bridley 2, Robertson 2, Schlagel, Linz
