Boys lacrosse entered its game against La Jolla Country Day riding an unbeaten 2-0 start to its season, but failed to recover from a slow start and offensive struggles, ultimately leading to a 8-4 loss, March 4.

Captain Trevor Atchley (12) said he was expecting a more competitive game.

“We were expecting a bit more of a battle in that game, and it was, but we came out kind of flat,” Atchley said. “We weren’t executing our offense very well. Our defense held their own, but, overall, we just weren’t able to fully succeed on offense the way that we wanted to, and I think we were overly confident about the game. I was definitely expecting offense to run some of our more prominent sets better.”

Atchley credited the slow start to communication difficulties among offensive players.

“We needed to move the ball around more,” Atchley said. “The first quarter we just did not play well, same goes for third. We had a lot of players who weren’t [connected], so we weren’t producing what we should have been.”

Much of the team was absent or playing while sick, which Atchley said was a large factor in deficiencies in team chemistry and morale.

“One of the hardest parts was the fact that almost our entire team was sick,” Atchley said. “We were missing our key players. Most of the starters as well as our goalie, Kaden Thakkar [(12)], were all playing sick. I think I was the only captain that wasn’t sick that game. The sickness didn’t allow us to play as well as we usually do and just brought us down as a whole.”

While the offense struggled to find its rhythm early, Captain Noa Magbanua (12) said the defense put up a good fight. 

“As a team, I think our defense played really well despite the loss,” Magbanua said. “We only gave up two goals per quarter, with half of them being while we were man down, and the rest being small mental mistakes. Our defenders won all of their matchups, and we really only struggled when our offensive midfielders got stuck on defense.”

Atchley said the defense held its ground against the first D-I team Westview has faced this season.

“We saw a better defense than we had seen in the past two games,” Atchley said. “[LJCD] had a one-man offense where their best player would take the ball and they would pretty much just set him screens to try to get him open for a shot. We were trying to communicate through those screens to have our best long stick play on their best player. Sometimes it didn’t work, sometimes it did; overall it just came down to how well we could communicate.”

While Westview’s plan had mixed success, Magbanua said the experience helped the team adjust to a higher level of play.

“We were working as an entire defense much more effectively, communicating through picks and dodges much better,” Magbanua said. “We went into this game expecting to struggle on defense while our offense excelled, but the opposite happened with our defense playing much better against the best team and offense we played against so far.”

Atchley said he saw the game as an opportunity to prepare for tougher opponents later in the season.

“In the fourth quarter we started to put some goals on the board and come back a little bit, but overall it wasn’t enough to fully send us over the edge,” Atchley said. “[But], it’s good to see higher competition. It’s going to help us in the long run fighting for another championship.”

In preparation for their upcoming game tomorrow against Temecula Valley, Atchley said the team has been working on a 1-4-1 offensive set called “Rodeo,” which focuses on feeding the ball to the crease for a close-range shot.

“Based on the defense that they’re giving us, we’re able to feed the ball to the attack men, and we’re able to get pretty good shots off of it,” Atchley said. “We work best in that set, [and] it’s the main one we’re focusing on.”

Overall, Magbanua said he hopes that lessons learned from La Jolla will translate into stronger performances.

“I think the way we’ve been communicating more on defense and offense will lead to our success,” Magbanua said. “I think if we keep our offense moving and constantly attacking, we can take down any team we see in the future.”