The562’s coverage of Long Beach Poly is sponsored by Bryson Financial.
The562’s coverage of Long Beach Wilson Athletics is sponsored by Joel Bitonio, Class of 2009.
The chase for the Moore League boys’ lacrosse championship got a lot more compelling on Tuesday night. The Wilson Bruins avenged an overtime loss from earlier in the season with an impressive 5-3 road victory over rivals Long Beach Poly, leaving the teams neck-and-neck in the league standings.
Led by their defense, the Bruins held the Jackrabbits to just one goal through the first three quarters, and held onto their lead in the final frame to secure a crucial win.
“These boys are the most mentally resilient, physically resilient team I’ve coached,” said Wilson head coach Warren Wright. “We just got two starters back, so we were just coming off of injuries at the right time, and I asked the boys to maintain the intensity they’ve had the last three games, pretty much since we played (Poly) last time … And I’ll tell you what I told them, if we can go 2-0 this week, we’re in the driver’s seat.”
Wilson scored the first three goals of the night on a blustery evening on the Eastside, with Ivan Van Divort, Cash Riordan, and Diego De La Mora each finding the scoresheet. It wasn’t until the 6:28 mark in the second quarter that Poly was finally able to get off the schneid, as Mason Peterson got the Jackrabbits going, cutting the deficit to 3-1 at halftime.
The Bruins were able to continue their defensive dominance in the third quarter, not allowing the Jackrabbits to build any momentum. Meanwhile Ty Kernan’s goal put Wilson’s lead back to three heading into the final 12 minutes.
“The big thing is faith in teammates, faith in the program, and faith in the plan we had,” said De La Mora of Wilson’s defensive performance. “We’ve just got to execute. And big shoutout to Jackson Vanatta and Alex Hansen. Those are my guys since sophomore year, and we’ve been holding it down ever since.”
In the fourth, Poly’s Lincoln King energized his squad with a pair of early goals, including a terrific leaping shot that tucked in between the crossbar and the rising net of Wilson goalie Ryan Bruce, who played well with 10 saves for the Bruins. King’s second goal in the span of less than four minutes gave the home side some real momentum as they cut the deficit to 4-3 with 7:49 left to play.
That’s when Riordan took the game into his hands on the other end of the field. After sophomore Jaxson Danell claimed the ball off the face-off and moved it ahead to Riordan, the junior attacker saw an opening in the defense. Instead of following the play of bringing the ball behind the goal, he quickly turned toward goal and fired a strike into the turf, getting it past Poly goalie Zeth Gonzalez (12 saves) for the biggest goal of the night.
“We were calling the play to go around, and he just called his own number,” Wright said of Riordan. “And I saw the look on his face. He was just like, ‘I’m not passing this ball. I’m taking this shot.’ And that’s what our leaders do.”
That proved to be the final score of the game, giving Wilson just enough breathing room to finish off the victory.
“We really wanted to win, so I had to come up big,” Riordan said. “But it’s not just me, it’s everybody here. I love all my boys to death. You know, I don’t have a lot of siblings, so these are my boys, like they’re my brothers. I treat them like that. And I’d say chemistry won us this game, to be honest.”
Wilson will look to keep this momentum rolling into a huge matchup at Millikan on Thursday at 6:30 p.m. The Bruins needed overtime to beat the Rams in their first meeting, and understand the importance of a season sweep over the defending league champs.
Poly is also back in action on Thursday, playing Downey at 4:30 p.m. at Millikan in game one of that key doubleheader.
