The Santa Fe Christian Eagles hosted the visiting Mt. Carmel Sundevils Tuesday evening. The #6 seed Eagles come into this game with a record of 9 wins and 7 losses. The visiting #11 seed Sundevils boast a record of 4 wins and 12 losses. This game is the opening round of the 2018 CIF San Diego Division 1 Lacrosse playoffs with the winner of this game taking on #3 seed St. Augustine in the Quarterfinals on May 11th.
The game started with the Sundevils winning the opening faceoff and maintained possession before turning it over. The Eagles scored first when Senior Garrett Lipscomb ripped one in with 7:36 left in the first quarter off an assist from Junior Will Littlejohn. Sophomore Preston Graubert scored on an unassisted goal with 4:47 left. Graubert scored another one with an assist from Junior Will Littlejohn with 1:02 remaining in the first quarter. The Eagles kept the pressure on and were able to get a few more shots on goal before the quarter ended but were ultimately unsuccessful.
The 2nd Quarter saw the Eagles leading 3-0. Graubert added another one with an assist from Sophomore Gabe Ornee to increase the lead to 4-0. Santa Fe Christian remained on the offensive for a majority of the second quarter. Junior Will Littlejohn scored with 4:18 left in the half off an assist from Preston Gruabert to put the Eagles up 5-0. Junior Griffin Morris added the 6th goal of the half with 33 seconds left of another assist from Preston Graubert. Defensively the Eagles were able to withstand a late push by the Sundevils before the half ended.
The second half opened with a goal from Griffin Morris off an assist from Will Littlejohn with 8:59 left in the quarter. Followed up by a goal from Freshman Jack Winters on an unassisted goal 40 seconds later. The Sundevils had a shot on goal that looked like it went in but only landed on the outside of the net before Senior Grant Koopman scooped it up and the Eagles took to the offensive and fired a couple shots that fell unsuccessful.
The 4th quarter started with some great shots on goal by the Eagles that were saved by the Sundevil keeper. Mt. Carmel scored their first goal of the game with 7:18 left in the game. The Sundevils almost scored 30 seconds later off the faceoff but Koopman was able to make another great save. The Eagles answered the Sundevils attack by scoring off an unassisted Jack Winters goal with 6:41 remaining. Senior Grant Koopman gobbled up another save from the Mt. Carmel attack. Grant Koopman snagged a save and took it the length of the field making multiple defenders miss before he fired a shot at an open goal that bounced off the pipe! The Mt. Carmel Sundevils were able to add another goal with 1:22 remaining. The Sundevils were able to add another goal with 23 ticks left.
The Eagles 9-3 victory means their season continues and they face St. Augustine on Friday, May 11th. Preston Graubert lead the team with 5 points (3 goals and 2 assists). Will Littlejohn finished with 4 points (1 goal and 3 assists)