King Boys Lacrosse Team Starts Fast, Beats San Juan Hills to Reach Division 3 Semis
The Wolves scored the first four goals of the match and never trailed en route to victory Wednesday evening.
King scored the first four goals of the match and never trailed en route to its 17-12 win over San Juan Hills in a CIF Southern Section Division 3 quarterfinal match. Logan Gilbert led the Wolves with a match-high six goals.
“We wanted to come out strong, score goals and get a big lead and make sure they couldn’t come back,” Logan Gilbert said.
Gilbert, Kale Van Lierop, Lucas Akutagawa and Aiden Lim scored goals as King (12-9) opened a 4-0 advantage after 3 1/2 minutes of action. The Wolves stepped on the gas and led 6-1 at the end of the quarter then 11-2 at halftime.
King, the Big VIII League runner-up, applied the defensive pressure and forced several turnovers in San Juan Hills territory.
“The defense really helped set things up for the offense,” Kyle Gilbert said. “We watched film and noticed they had trouble passing the ball from the back. We wanted to attack their goalie and make him handle the ball. We were able to get a lot of unsettled plays and fast breaks and took advantage of those. … I was a little surprised at just how well things started for us.”
Van Lierop and Logan Gilbert scored on back-to-back possessions as the Wolves pushed the lead to 13-2 in the third quarter.
“We started fast and had a lot of momentum on our side,” Van Lierop said. “We watched a lot of film to prepare, so it’s nice seeing all the hard work paying off. We just have to keep playing as a team and good things will happen.”
San Juan Hills, the Sea View League champion, started to turn things around late in the third period. The Stallions (9-10) scored four straight goals — two from Jaxon Roberts — to get within 13-6 with 1:53 remaining in the quarter.
King had an answer, however. Gilbert forced a turnover and then found Andrew Nelson for a goal with 10 seconds left in the third period. Van Lierop, Akutagawa and Lim scored goals at the start of the fourth to get the lead back up to 11.
“We had a little letdown … And those things happen in lacrosse,” Kyle Gilbert said. “It was good to see them bounce back.”
San Juan Hills went down fighting and scored the final six goals of the match. That deficit, however, was too much to overcome.
Van Lierop scored four times, and Lim added three goals for King. Nathan Breads had a team-high three assists, and Gilbert and Van Lierop assisted on three goals. Ryan Sanchez was strong in front of the cage and finished with 15 saves.
Roberts and Reid Gordon scored five goals and four goals, respectively, to lead San Juan Hills. Owen Olson had 13 saves, eight of those coming during the second half.
King, the No. 4-seeded team in the bracket, travels to top-seeded West Ranch (9-8) for a semifinal match Saturday. West Ranch defeated Linfield Christian 14-6 in another quarterfinal match Wednesday night.
This marks the third time in five seasons King has reached the CIF Southern Section semifinals. The Wolves came up short of a championship-match appearance in 2021 (6-3 loss to Temecula Valley) and again in 2023 (6-5 loss to Santa Monica).
“I told these kids at the beginning of the season that we’re going to do some things that we’ve never done before,” Kyle Gilbert said. “We beat Temecula Valley and Santiago for the first time ever. We have never been to the finals, so that is something that we’re looking to cross off of the list. Hopefully we can take care of business Saturday.”