Every game at halftime, Valencia boys lacrosse goalie Lucas Propst faces shots from coach Mark Bell. Just to stay sharp and focused.
Propst had to keep his head on a swivel Wednesday night against a high-powered Agoura High offense that kept attacking in a 14-4 win over the Vikings.
Propst did some heavy lifting in the opening half, saving a variety of shots from near and far.
“He’s our game changer,” Bell said. “He is the one that if he wasn’t in goal, that score would’ve been in the 20s. He changes the entire game by making huge saves at crucial times.”
Propst and the defense saw a whole lot of Agoura’s Marty Shargel, an attackman with quick feet and hands to match.
The Vikings ran a high-pressure defense and assigned one of their strongest defenders, Caden Weible, to keep on him, but Shargel and the Chargers offense were just too much.
“We came out strong but I think by halftime we were just, we wore ourselves out too early and the other team just kept going strong,” said Valencia midfielder Noah Swigert. “They were just more determined in the end.”
The Vikings held their ground against a speedy Chargers attack in the first half, coming back from a 3-1 deficit in the first to enter the break tied at three-all.
Swigert scored a first quarter goal, then Evan Dean and Chandler Howe netted one apiece in the second quarter.
Winning faceoffs proved difficult, too. Valencia rotated players to try and gain an early advantage in the circle, but Spencer Foreman kept winning to gain possession and set up Agoura’s attack.
“If we could win faceoffs, we could have possession most of the game,” Swigert said. “We’re good at holding onto the ball generally, but if we can’t get it to start with, that’s a problem.”
Brendan Barry scored one more goal for the Vikings in the fourth quarter, but Valencia had already been broken.
Valencia’s next game is Monday at St. Francis High of Mountain View.
“We started out hot and we just fizzled out,” Bell said. “They were playing a very rough defense, and I think that made our attack and middies a little nervous to the point where they lost the train of thought to do simple things right.”
