CdM edges Foothill

TUSTIN — Noah Molnar allowed Corona del Mar High to roar back.

Everyone heard him on the field.

Three times Molnar scored in the fourth quarter, forcing overtime against the area’s top boys’ lacrosse team.

With 2 minutes, 52 seconds left in sudden-death overtime, a Foothill player collapsed in the box while CdM controlled the ball in the offensive zone.

In disbelief, Molnar spoke up as the referees ushered players out of the box.

“Biggest fake I’ve ever seen,” he said, believing the player went down to slow down the Sea Kings’ momentum, not because he was in pain.

Ryan Mix eventually sent the Knights home hurting.

Mix scored the game-winner with 1:48 left, lifting CdM to a 7-6 nonleague victory at Tustin High Wednesday night.

Mix scored the Sea Kings’ first goal and last one.

“I looked at my matchup. I finally got it,” Mix said for being held scoreless for 45:46. “[I] figured it was my turn. Noah cleared out.”

With Molnar out, Mix attacked from behind the cage before circling in front of the goalie to beat him and get CdM’s first victory against Foothill.

The Sea Kings (2-0) have been waiting for this occasion for quite some time. They celebrated with good reason. They knocked off the No. 9-ranked team in the state by LaxPower.com

“They’re the two-time reigning CIF Southern Section champion,” CdM Coach Mark Todd said of Foothill. “This is the first time we’ve beat them in six years. In the six years we played them, we played them 10 times.”

The eleventh meeting belongs to CdM, ranked No. 47 in the state. Credit Molnar, Mix, the defense, and goalie Andrew Noto, who finished with 13 saves.

Coach Jon Fox said Foothill (2-1) hasn’t kept track of the series. You can bet he will now.

The Knights’ coaching staff praised Noto, telling Todd, “he was nothing fancy, but he stopped everything.”

Noto stuffed the Knights’ attack in the second half, recording seven saves in the fourth to keep CdM in the game. Only once did Foothill score in the second half.

Mitchell Cooper gave the Knights a 6-4 lead at the 10:10 mark in the fourth. Cooper created both of Foothill’s two-goal leads, the other in the closing seconds before halftime.

After a scoreless third quarter, Molnar provided the firepower at the start of the fourth.

Forty-one seconds into the quarter, he beat goalie Nathan Kleponis for his first goal. Midway through the quarter, Foothill made things harder on Molnar.

Defenders hammered Molnar. The Lehigh University-bound senior took a shot in the air, scoring again to cut the deficit to 6-5. CdM’s Superman came to the rescue again.

With 1:49 remaining, Molnar attacked from the left, beating the goalie to his left to tie the game at 6-6.

The momentum shifted to CdM’s side. Molnar felt it, saw it and heard it in sudden-death overtime. Four minutes is all the Sea Kings had to dethrone the Knights for the first time.

One player fell due to cramps. The rest followed when Mix, who has committed to Notre Dame, snapped his stick and stuck it to the Knights.

“I’ve seen plenty of cramps in football,” said Molnar, still not buying the player’s uncomfortable situation in overtime. “When they had the two-goal lead, you could see them trying to slow the game down. I think that ended up hurting them.

“I’ve been playing with every single one of these [Foothill] kids since probably like seventh grade. I know all of them. I play club with them all summer. Just to beat them is the best thing in the world right now.”

Molnar made himself heard loud and clear. The Sea Kings are legit.