Santa Margarita boys lacrosse sticks to plan, beats St. Margaret's in semifinals
RANCHO SANTA MARGARITA — The game plan was simple for Santa Margarita's boys lacrosse team heading into its semifinal game against St. Margaret's: win faceoffs and control possession.
Santa Margarita executed that game plan to near perfection and beat St. Margaret's 14-8 in the CIF-SS Division 1 semifinals Saturday at Santa Margarita High.
The Eagles have won over 75 percent of their faceoffs this season and faceoff specialist Kevin Ratzlaff leads the group with a win percentage of 77 percent.
Santa Margarita (15-3) won 18 of 24 faceoffs Saturday, which made it very challenging for St. Margaret's (16-3) to gain possessions.
"Those guys dominated today and that's huge against a team like that who has very talented offensive players," Santa Margarita coach Ryan Brent said. "It wasn't just the faceoff guys, it was the wing play and being gritty. It was fun to watch."
Santa Margarita's offense was led by junior attack Brody Booen, who was an All-County player as a freshman for St. Margaret's before transferring to the Eagles prior to last season. Booen had four goals against his former team Saturday, bringing his season total to a team-high 61.
"It was fun to play against a lot of familiar faces and get some good competition," Booen said. "I was just finding my spots and taking my shots. My teammates were helping me get open and giving me good passes."
"I just think he's a gifted shooter," St. Margaret's coach Brian Kelly said. "If he gets his hands free, he's going to score a lot. Would like to have done a better job against him but he is a great player."
The other offensive players for Santa Margarita took advantage of their scoring opportunities when the Tartans defense was aggressive against Booen. Tyler Ghyzel had two goals with an assist and Karl Robison scored twice.
Five of Santa Margarita's goals were assisted, two of them by Andrew Mravle.
"A lot of those guys are young, so to see those guys who played a small role last year step up and be dudes for us has been huge," Brent said. "Those guys get to go against our defense every day at practice so they are confident and prepared."
Santa Margarita's defense played well against a St. Margaret's offense that averaged 16 goals per game entering Saturday. The Eagles held St. Margaret's scoreless for a 12-minute stretch of game time in the second and third quarters. Goalie Connor Dugan had five big saves in the first half including some from just outside of the crease.
"We have some dudes down low, so from a matchup standpoint, we trusted our matchups," Brent said. "Good job on defense but the primary thing was the possession time that we had."
Santa Margarita led 5-3 at halftime and scored two goals in a nine-second stretch to extend its lead in the third. Defenseman Braxton Boyle had a goal with a long stick on a breakaway. Ratzlaff won the ensuing faceoff, ran down the field and scored nine seconds later.
Andrew Toubin had two goals and an assist for St. Margaret's. Ryan Kees had two goals and Jack Shea had two goals before leaving the game in the second quarter with an injury. Carson Barber had two assists and goalie Jonas Gilden had 10 saves.
Santa Margarita will play No. 1 seed Loyola in the championship game Friday at El Modena High. Loyola won the CIF-SS championship last season and beat Mater Dei 19-5 in its semifinal game Saturday.
"We anticipated that was going to be the matchup last year but we couldn't get it done in the semis," Brent said. "We've been looking at them since before the season started so this is the opportunity we wanted. They are obviously super talented and so are we. This is the matchup everyone wants to see."
This is the first CIF championship appearance for Santa Margarita. Loyola has reached five of the six championship games since CIF took over the lacrosse playoff format in 2021.
Booen was a key member of the St. Margaret’s team that won a CIF-SS championship in 2024 against Loyola.
St. Margaret's won 10 of 11 games entering Saturday and beat JSerra in the first round of the playoffs. The Tartans won their Pacific Coast League games with an average margin of victory of 19 goals.
"This has been one of my favorite teams I've ever coached," Kelly said. "They are unbelievable people. We have a pretty unique culture at St. Margaret's and I think this team in particular embodied that to the greatest extent. I'm going to miss them."
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