Last year when Hart High boys lacrosse took on Dos Pueblos High of Goleta, it lost by a dozen goals.
Rumblings from the Chargers crowd indicated that the Indians just weren’t worth their time. It was just too easy of a win for them.
But on Friday, Hart proved it was a worthy opponent, falling 8-7 at home.
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“(We lost) this game by one point, but the kids played a heck of a game,” said Indians coach Tony Uebelhardt. “I couldn’t be more proud of what they pulled off today, even in a loss.”
The Chargers (5-7 overall) built an early 4-1 lead by the time the clock reached 7:16, but the Indians fought back with three consecutive goals to tie up the score at 4-all by halftime.
Sophomore Jason Nunez scored back-to-back goals at the 4:12 and the 3:02 marks. The first went in off a kicking motion, but the second was a point-blank beauty.
“I thought it was a pass because I saw it high,” said Nunez. “So I jumped for it and I was really close to the crease, so I thought I might as well just shoot it. So I shot it really hard and I made it in.”
Hart (3-7) scored twice more in the third quarter, but Dos Pueblos nabbed a goal of its own to bring the deficit to one.
Still, it appeared the Indians were gaining momentum, finally settling and connecting on passes.
“That seems to be our MO this year,” Uebelhardt said. “We start off slow and then we finish. We work hard in practice and we’re just a second half team. The longer the game goes, it seems like the better we get.”
With 7:37 left in the game, Hart’s Garrett Fricke scored to tie up the game at 7-7.
But when four minutes hit, Dos Pueblos potted one final goal and the Indians couldn’t recover.
“(We need) to try even more,” Nunez said. “This is just the beginning even though we’re almost done with our season. But we still have more. We still have more to show.”
