ORINDA - On Tuesday night, second-seeded Miramonte boys lacrosse defeated third seed Northgate by a score of 13-12, launching them into the DAL championship game. Miramonte mounted a furious comeback, outscoring Northgate 6-1 in the fourth quarter to win the game.
Miramonte senior Nianoa Azevedo scored the winning and tying goals in the final minutes of the game. With a minute and 15 seconds to play, Azevedo was crashed by four Northgate defenders. Turning over his right shoulder, he evaded the defenders and slotted a shot into the top left hand corner of the cage to tie the score 12-12.
Azevedo scored the game winner with 48 seconds left to play. After receiving the ball, he rolled the cage and placed a powerful shot past Northgate goaltender Rylan Lockhead. Azevedo finished the game with four goals, making him the Mats’ leading scorer.
“We were down in the hole for a little bit, like four goals. At half, coach just brought us together and got in our heads and we started working.” said Azevedo.
The game was close in the first half with the Broncos leading 7-6 at halftime. Northgate extended their lead to 11-7 in the third quarter. The Bronco offense was led by senior Todd Tobol (five goals), freshman Adam Burkes (three goals), and junior Jason Madden (two goals).
But Miramonte started their comeback in the fourth quarter with three consecutive goals by Junior Xander Zabetian to cut the Bronco lead to 11-10. The teams exchanged goals before Azevedo took over in the final minute.
“Nothing really went wrong, they just got one more goal than us. We played a great game and they did too. Unfortunately, they came up in the end with a win,” said Northgate head coach Mike Escobar.
Although they are out of DAL playoffs, the Broncos remain optimistic about their NCS chances.
“Our team is going to get ready to play a hard four quarters in every game from now on and if we all play to our potential then we will go far in NCS,” said Northgate freshman Adam Burkes.
Miramonte will face top seed Acalanes in the DAL championship game and then will advance to the NCS playoffs.
“We’re going to get ready for Acalanes. We still have one more very important game left before we go to NCS and we want to make sure we’re prepared and show up the way we want to show up,” said Miramonte head coach Byron McGovern.
