SAN JOSE - The Mitty Monarchs used a huge first quarter to overpower the Mountain View Spartans, Saturday afternoon in a non-league matchup in boys lacrosse. The Monarchs were paced by senior Sean Mahoney with a hat trick.
Mitty got off to a dominating start in the first quarter by winning the early face-off and not letting Mountain View have an offensive possession until just under four minutes left in the quarter. The Spartans only hurt themselves initially by giving up a soft penalty in which sophomore Ian Collier capitalized off an assist from Mahoney. Mahoney would be next, as he got his first off a brilliant individual dodge from the top of the left side. A minute later senior Robert Ruf got on the scoresheet, followed by junior Aidan Powell, encapsulating the Monarchs dominance. Mountain View's first attack was foiled by a turnover before senior Sacha Karoubi gets Mountain View on the scoresheet off an assist from senior captain Niles Lo.
The second quarter played out very differently, in large part due to both goalkeepers making a number of tremendous saves in the quarter, and throughout the rest of the game. It started with Mountain View freshman GK Martin Johnson making a point blank save to keep the Spartans within touching distance before Mitty GK, junior Larkin Koker did his part to keep the ball out of the net. Mahoney would be the one to break the second quarter deadlock. After stifling the Spartan attack throughout the second quarter a near give away from the Monarchs almost saw the Spartan's capitalize but couldn't convert to trail by four going into halftime.
The third quarter started much of the same as both teams found trouble finding rhythm offensively. Indeed, it was the Spartans who couldn't even muster a shot with two penalty advantages back to back. A third penalty finally found the broke through of the quarter with Lo scoring off an assist from senior Lucas Tomasello. Sensing the change in momentum the Monarch went back on attack with junior Jacques Allard scoring literally twenty seconds after the Spartans goal. It was Mahoney who got his third of the game with less than a minute to play in the quarter, virtually killing of the game. The fourth quarter saw Ruf get his second of the game followed by Daniel Cecilio getting on the scoresheet. Karoubi got his second of the game, and Mountain View's final score of the game.
Mountain View will next play host to Carlmont on Tuesday while the Monarchs will host the top ranked team in Prep2Prep's lacrosse rankings and nationally ranked Sacred Heart Prep on Thursday.
