In the course of a sports season, coaches work on the fundamentals, and drill their teams to achieve a level of consistency and talent that will provide them with the competitive edge to prevail over their opponents.
Culver City High School’s lacrosse team — which split two decisions this week — has a knack for being consistent: dominantly brilliant one night and competitively error prone the next, and there seems to be a direct correlation to the level of the competition.
Last Tuesday evening, Redondo Union came to town. Sensing that they had the upper hand, the Centaurs confidently took charge and dominated every aspect of their game. Midfielder Oscar Lopez won most of the face-offs, maintaining possession for an offensive barrage that resulted in a 14-1 win over Redondo.
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Senior Jameson Bartlett was on fire, fighting his way to the front of the net and scoring 6 goals. John Madden and Jason Mair added 2 each. Even the defense got on the board as Menelik Tefari traveled the length of the field with his long handled stick and launched one into the net.
The midfield played splendidly, highlighted by junior Conner Nannini’s wraparound stick-checking that dislodged the ball several times, and a relentless defense that stymied Redondo’s attack. Sophomore Phillip Beer was rock solid in goal allowing only one score in four quarters.
A Different Story
On Thursday, Culver City traveled to Downey High and faced a more formidable opponent.
The first half was marked by solid play on both sides. At halftime the score was 1-1. In the third quarter things began to unravel for the Centaurs.
Errant clearing passes and dropped balls by the midfield led to turnovers and fast break chances resulting in 5 goals for Downey.
The Culver team outshot Downey nearly 2 to1 during the course of the game, but many of those shots bounced in front of the goal, careening off the springy turf over the crossbar.
Credit also must be given to the outstanding goalie for Downey who stopped several Centaur scoring chances. The Centaurs never lost faith and made up ground in the second half on goals by Andy Campos, Jameson Bartlett, Austin Dupuy and Daniel Alvarez.
It wasn’t enough however, to overcome the third period meltdown, and they lost 7-5.
