2005 Metro Conference Report

Balance of power shifts to Eastlake

By Phillip Brents
Posted March 25, 2005

It was a case of too little, too late last year for the Eastlake High School boys lacrosse team. The Titans did what many considered to be the unthinkable in the team’s final regular season game last year: defeat reigning Metro Conference champion Bonita Vista.

However, the victory did little to alter the standings. The league title had already been sewn up by the Barons, the conference’s first dynasty in the sport.

What Eastlake did manage to do, however, was to carry the momentum from that huge victory into this season. The result has been a 3-0 start in conference play and a second consecutive victory against Bonita Vista. It appears that the road to this year’s league championship could go through Eastlake.

"Our goal this year is to win the league title," Titans head coach Doug Murphy said succinctly.

Eastlake’s 15-4 victory at Montgomery on March 17 gave the team its third consecutive win in conference play. The Titans started the Metro season with a 12-6 win against Hilltop on March 7 and followed that with an 11-7 victory against Bonita Vista on March 10. 

Eastlake opened the season with a 15-3 non-league loss to San Diego Section power La Jolla on March 2 and recorded a 9-5 non-league win at Santana on March 8. The ensuing victory against Bonita Vista gave the Titans a 3-1 start to the 2005 campaign. Non-league losses to visiting Fallbrook (9-8 on March 12) and 12-1 at Granite Hills on March 15 have somewhat tempered the team’s fine start. Following the win at Montgomery, Eastlake concluded a busy week that featured three games in four days with a non-league loss at Grossmont to give the Titans a 4-4 overall record in eight games.

Not included in that record is a third-place finish in the Westview Wolverines Invitational.

Senior midfielder Adrian Van Vleck helped engineer Eastlake’s strong start with 21 goals and nine assists in the team’s opening six games. However, he suffered a broken scapula early in the game against Granite Hills. The injury is usually only seen in automobile accidents, according to Murphy, to denote how hard the hit was that injured the Titans’ scoring star. Van Vleck is likely lost for the duration of the regular season. He had five goals and four assists in the March 10 victory against Bonita Vista.

He  watched the March 17 game against Montgomery from the sidelines with his right arm in a sling.

"It’s a shame because he had worked so hard. He had literally been playing lacrosse year-round," Murphy said of Van Vleck, who had opted to bypass last fall’s boys water polo season to instead concentrate on playing in an off-season lacrosse league.

"He reached his potential. He was playing phenomenally," Murphy reiterated about Van Vleck’s early season standout play.

Luckily, the 2005 Titans are loaded with enough talent to partially offset Van Vleck’s loss. Junior attackman Matt Scott stands as one of the most physically imposing players in the conference at 6 feet, 4 inches tall. On defense, sophomore Alex Welling and senior Brandon McBride are both returning starters. Eastlake is anchored in the net by sophomore David Johnson, the hero of last year’s ground-breaking victory against Bonita Vista.

"Our goalie is a hard worker. He worked as hard as Adrian did during the off-season. He was in a game somewhere almost every day," Murphy said.

The Titans rallied from a 1-0 deficit against Montgomery (0-4), breaking an early 2-2 standoff with five unanswered goals and closing the game with eight consecutive scores. Scott and senior midfielder Pablo Santana led the attack with four goals apiece while senior midfielder Andy Thies scored twice. Eight Eastlake players scored in the contest. Adding single goals for the Titans were sophomore midfielder Jose Urrutia, senior midfielder Jovanny Lopez, junior midfielder Chris Stone, senior attackman Juan Camacho and senior midfielder John Mabry.

Murphy has to be pleased by the depth of this year’s team as well as some of the natural talent on the field. Lopez, a transfer from Mar Vista High School who played football and wrestled at Eastlake this season, had never played lacrosse before yet looks like a veteran out there.

The inspiring conclusion to last year also had an impact on recruiting for this year. The team started the season with 40 players — about double the previous season. Murphy said he owed that to this year’s crop of seniors.

"My seniors found a handful of gems walking through the halls at school. They said, ‘Hey, why not come out and play lacrosse,’" the Titan coach said.

Eastlake has also benefited from five incoming players who have experience from a fledgling middle school program.
The end result has been a record-setting start to the season. An equally strong finish could net the Titans their first league championship in the sport.

Otay Ranch joins the Metro Conference this season to hike membership to six schools. Chula Vista joins the aforementioned teams: Eastlake, Bonita Vista, Hilltop, Montgomery and Otay Ranch.