On the bus ride home from a double overtime loss on March 24, West Ranch boys lacrosse hit a turning point.
The Wildcats were a game below .500, and lacking momentum for the stretch run.
The team’s three captains addressed the team. The message: Is this really the season we want?
It wasn’t. West Ranch responded. The Wildcats beat Mira Costa of Manhattan Beach, 8-3, at home Monday, their fourth win in their last five games.
The difference, senior captain Teo Domic said, has been the Wildcats’ intensity in practice.
“We’ve been taking it a lot more seriously,” he said, “been going 100 percent. You play like you practice. … We’ve really taken that to a distinct meaning.”
Domic scored three goals and assisted on another for West Ranch (7-5) Monday. He’s scored 20 goals and dished out 15 assists, according to MaxPreps.
Jacob Gandara scored two goals, while teammate Adam Doyle had two assists.
Noah Gervasi, Rob Wilcox and Jeremy Demsher each scored a goal, helping drop Mira Costa to 8-3 on the year.
The Cats trailed 1-0 at halftime, after turning the ball over 13 times.
That changed after the break, when West Ranch turned it over only three times.
Another difference…
“We were finishing shots,” Domic said. “We had a lot of looks in the first half, but we weren’t shooting the ball correctly.”
The trajectory of West Ranch’s season has improved, too.
After a 4-3 double-overtime loss to Oaks Christian of Westlake Village on March 17, the Wildcats have beaten, Village Christian of Sun Valley, Glendale, Royal of Simi Valley and now Mira Costa.
The lone loss in that span was the 12-11 double-overtime setback to El Segundo on March 24.
The Wildcats next play at St. Francis of La Canada today.
Then they are at Hart on Thursday.
