No Dhouni. No Schuler. No problem. Despite missing two of their three senior captains, the Santa Margarita Catholic High School Eagles led from wire-to-wire in an 11-4 win over visiting Rancho Bernardo on Friday. Great goaltending from Max Vought, tough team defense, and balanced scoring were the secret recipe for for the Eagles in their #oclaxdomination win over their guests from San Diego County.
Tied 2-2 at halftime, the Eagles broke open a tight game with a steady stream of unanswered goals in the second half. Rancho Bernardo’s only two goals of the second half came very late when the outcome had already been decided. The unofficial game stats for the Eagles: Nico Houser and Hayden Ruiz had hat tricks to lead the Eagles goal scorers. Ruiz also picked up two assists, to give him another 5-point game. Doc Dochterman had a goal and 2 assists in another solid outing for the sophomore. Joseph Fice had 2 goals including one off the opening face-off. Andrew Kofoed also had two goals.
Next up for Santa Margarita (5-2), Trinity League play begins. The Eagles host the red hot Mater Dei Monarchs (8-1) on Tuesday and travel up to Anaheim to face Servite (2-4) on Thursday.
Stars of the Game
We are going to give some MaxLaxOC.com love to a defense that held Rancho Bernardo, a team that was averaging nine goals per game coming in, to just four goals.
1. Max Vought, Santa Margarita, goalie: Vought came up with some big time saves, especially when the the game was close in the first half.
2. Eric Rubak, Santa Margarita, defense. Rubak played his usual tenacious D. He has nice footwork and likes to let that his stick get up close and personal with some gloves.
3.CJ Deal, Santa Margarita, LSM: Stepping in for Ravi Dhouni is no small task. It was a dirty job that had to be done on Friday night, and someone had to do it. Deal handled it like it was no big deal. (CJ Deal. no big deal. get it?)
–MaxLaxOC.com
