By Phillip Brents
Posted April 20, 2005

It was the moment that members of the Hilltop High School boys lacrosse team had long dreamed of: the moment of arrival in the Metro Conference.

That moment arrived on April 14 as Hilltop defeated defending conference champion Bonita Vista 5-3.
As the final whistle blew, sticks went skyward and screams of victory echoed along the Lancer sideline.
It was a sight that has been a long time coming, especially for head coach Pete Bishop, who has guided the team since its inception four years ago.

"We had never beaten Bonita Vista," Bishop said. "Last year in the first game we played them, we led for most of three quarters but they came back and took it."

Hilltop never trailed in the April 14 contest. The Lancers, after weathering an initial storming of their net by the host Barons, methodically built momentum in the contest as well as a 3-0 lead. After Bonita Vista took away that early momentum with three consecutive goals of its own, Hilltop regrouped and scored the final two goals of the game.
"This was a big win for the boys," Bishop said. "We’ve gotten better and better every year. We still have a lot of work to do. We’re still working on fundamentals."

The April 14 victory raised the Lancers’ conference record to 4-1 and overall record to 10-3 to demonstrate just what a fine season Hilltop has had thus far this season. The team’s only loss in conference matches was to Eastlake at the start of the season. Hilltop will rematch with the Titans on Thursday, April 21 in a bid for conference supremacy.

After battling Bonita Vista to a scoreless first quarter, Hilltop opened the second quarter with consecutive goals by Josh Cordova, Chris Hunt and Christian Esparza. The Barons finally answered with a goal by Jeff Burnham, assisted by Chris Hasley, to make the score 3-1 at halftime.

Bonita Vista added two more unanswered goals to tie the game. Brent Flanagan got the only goal of the third quarter to pull the Barons to within one goal at 3-2. Burnham scored his second goal of the match just seconds into the fourth quarter to knot the score between the teams at 3-3.

Hilltop did not wait long, however, to reassert itself. Hunt put the Lancers ahead 4-3 on a goal scored two minutes after the BV equalizer. Hunt scored his third goal of the contest in the dying minutes to seal the victory for the visitors, who were buoyed in front of the net by goaltender Jonathan Mayer.

Metro notepad
Scripps Ranch defeated Eastlake, 7-5, in non-league action on Tuesday. Otay Ranch defeated Chula Vista, 12-4, in a conference game on April 14.