SD Prep Sports

SD Prep Sports: Boys Lacrosse

Titans coach starting from ground level

By Phillip Brents

CHULA VISTA, May 1, 2003 -- Eastlake High boys lacrosse coach Doug Murphy admittedly must have his moments of frustration. But those moments have to be offset by the steady progress he has seen his team make over the course of the season.

“It’s still just fundamentals. We’re still at that stage. We need to control face-offs and ground balls. Those are the keys to the game,” Murphy said.

This is the third season the Titans have fielded a team in the San Diego Section’s newest sport. This is the second season for official CIF-sponsored play after the Metro Conference got off the ground with a fledgling club league the previous year.

Five schools in the conference presently field teams: Eastlake, Chula Vista, Bonita Vista, Hilltop and Montgomery high schools.

There are the embryonic stages in development of middle school level teams.

A native of Syracuse, N.Y., Murphy grew up in one of the hotbeds for the sport — based on a Native American game but incorporating elements of modern day hockey, football and soccer — and has a true passion to see it succeed on the West Coast. That passion understandably includes high standards.

“I grew up playing lacrosse. Our next door neighbor was Roy Simmons, the Syracuse lacrosse coach who won six national championships. He’s pretty much a legend there. His father coached 42 years and he was there 30 years,” Murphy said.

Murphy might also be called the “Johnny Appleseed” of the sport locally. He started the program at Coronado High School in 1985 where he coached five seasons. The Islanders — along with teams representing Torrey Pines High School — helped set the standard for the sport throughout not only the region but the state. He went on to coach at Serra High, University of San Diego High (six years) and most recently at Chula Vista High for two years.

He compares the progression of the sport over the past 18 years to "night and day."

“Then there were eight teams. Now there are 30. We went from minimum skills to last year where a player who used to play at Serra, Spencer Wright, played on Syracuse’s NCAA national championship team and was named Second Team All-American. He was the fourth leading scorer on the best team in the world. That says a lot for area schools. It’s something to strive for,” Murphy said with an air of pride.

Wright, who totaled 21 goals and 12 assists as a senior last year, had an assist in Syracuse’s 13-12 victory against Princeton to win last year’s NCAA Division I men’s lacrosse title in front of a crowd of 19,706. The NCAA title was the Orangemen’s eighth in school history. In reaching the finals of the tournament, Syracuse made its 20th consecutive Final Four appearance.

Murphy’s job at Eastlake is clearly to build a foundation.

The Titans began the season 0-9 before recording their first win against Montgomery High School on April 7. That confidence carried over into their ensuing game against defending Metro Conference champion Bonita Vista following spring break on April 21. Though Eastlake lost 15-7, the rematch bore little resemblance to the 15-1 drubbing the Titans took in the first encounter between the teams three weeks earlier when the Barons scored nine seconds into the match and held a 13-0 lead after the first quarter. A pair of unanswered goals to start the third period cut the Baron lead to 9-5 in the latter encounter.

Despite the lopsided win-loss record, enthusiasm remains rampant on the team. Among the newcomers to make an impact is freshman Chris Sexton, who played roller hockey during the winter sports season.

“It’s just fun to play. It’s related to hockey. There’s passing, running, shooting and hitting,” he said.

Junior Anthony Charlton stands out as Eastlake’s top player. He had three goals in the most recent loss to Bonita Vista. This is his third season on the team — his first as an attacker after playing the past seasons as a goaltender.

“I get to move around more. I get to score rather than block shots,” Charlton said.
Defenseman Alex Conner is another third-year player for the Titans and, as one of the team’s leaders, is helping lay a framework for the future. “We don’t hit as much as we used to. This year is more of a developmental year for the younger players to develop their skills,” Conner said.

For Murphy, the proverbial light at the end of the tunnel may be starting to shine as the emphasis on fundamentals starts to pay dividends. “Ground balls are the key to winning lacrosse games. If you control ground balls, you control the game in lacrosse. We’re starting to play ground balls better. It’s like rebounds in basketball,” the Eastlake coach said.

With increased performance, Murphy is looking to increase interest in the team.
“We have a core group of guys who we currently are counting on as leaders. We still need more numbers. We definitely need more numbers for the future,” he said.

Barons get bullish
Bonita Vista improved to 10-1 overall, 7-0 in league play following Wednesday’s come-from-behind 11-9 victory against visiting Chula Vista. Kyle Short and Erick Jaime — both First Team All-Metro selections last year — continued their standout seasons with three goals and three assists and three goals and two assists, respectively. Christian Amezcua added four goals.

Chris Boshell’s goal with 2:57 left in the April 21 Eastlake game was memorable in that it was believed to be the first-ever goal scored in team history by a goaltender.

Bonita Vista squares off at La Jolla next Wednesday at 5:30 p.m. in another high-stakes encounter.

“Depending on how we do against La Jolla, that will likely determine our seeding in CIF,” Baron coach Gus Serrano said.