What an amazing season for your SFC Eagles Men’s Lacrosse team, for first-year Head Coach Tomas Rodriquez and his Coaching Staff and for the Men’s Lacrosse program in general. The future is bright for the Program. Here are some interesting facts and stats intended to chronical certain aspects of the 2022 Season.
Team Effort
SFC finished the regular season with a record of 14-6 and ranked 4th in San Diego County. Three of the losses were by a single goal (Mullen, Bishops (#2) and Grossmont (#3)). The Eagles could easily have finished with a record of 17-3. The Eagles only lost two games by more than 2 goals.
The team shared the Coastal League title with Bishops. SFC beat Bishops at SFC by a score of 8-5 and lost to Bishops 9-10 in the season finale at Bishops.
Like last season the Eagles played La Costa Canyon in the quarterfinals of the Open Division CIF playoffs. Last season the Eagles were seeded #6 and LCC was seeded #3 and the teams played at LCC. This season SFC was seeded #4 and LCC #5. As a result of the higher seeding, SFC hosted its first Open Division CIF lacrosse playoff game in school history. The teams battled in a very tough game. Bobby Berg (Senior) scored a goal at the buzzer as time expired in the 4th quarter to tie the game at 13-13 to send the game into a sudden victory/death overtime period. LCC was able to score a goal in overtime and won the game 14-13. The boys battled hard for 48 minutes plus the overtime period. The game could easily have gone either way.
The team played the toughest schedule of any SFC lacrosse team in history, including against each of the top 7 teams in San Diego County - Torrey Pines (#1), Bishops (#2), Grossmont (#3), LCC (#5), Cathedral (#6), Poway (#7). Also, the Eagles played and beat La Jolla Country Day (twice) (#11), Westview (#12), La Jolla High School (#13) and Carlsbad (#14). In addition, SFC played the #1 team in the State of California, St. Margaret’s losing a very close game 5-7, a mere 2 goals.
The team achieved some amazing milestones this season, including the following.
During the season the team was ranked as high as #3 in San Diego County, the highest ranking of any SFC Lacrosse team since the 2008 team. The team ended the regular season ranked #4 in the County, also the highest end of season ranking for any SFC men’s lacrosse team since 2008.
The 21 games played by this year’s team was the most games ever played by the SFC Men’s Lacrosse program dating all the way back to 2008.
The 233 goals scored by SFC this season were the most in a season by SFC since 2008 (239 goals).
The Eagles recorded 113 Assists, 346 Points, and 636 Ground Balls this season, the most in any season since 2016 (the last year for which such statistics are available).
JV Team.
Perhaps for the very first time in program history (or at least recent program history), SFC fielded a JV team. That team played 7 games. The team had great success with many of the boys playing lacrosse for the first time and discovering the joy of the game.
The Coaches
To our coaches, Head Coach Tomas and first year Assistant Coaches Brendan Brunelle and Jordyn Williams, a special thank you. What a season, right? Thank you for coaching and mentoring our boys.
The Class of 2022 – Senior Leadership
The 2022 team will be remembered for the leadership of the senior Captains: Bobby Berg, Sam Cooper, Brendon De Bont, Colton Lehberg, and DJ Tovtin. All have mentored the younger guys including prior to the start of the season. All have contributed significantly to the success of the SFC Lacrosse Program over the last 4 years. They started playing lacrosse together in the 7th grade and all of them are 4-year varsity letterman.
The balance of the 2022 senior class had a major impact on the success of the 2022 team.
Rylan Goodwin (3 years playing lacrosse) was a force to be reckoned with at attack scoring 24 goals this season and adding 10 assists (34 points). Rylan was smooth as silk gliding through defenses with ease while score his goals.
Evan Bennett (3 years) was the defensive enforcer for the Eagles. Nobody on an opposing team wanted to mess with Evan. He was missed after his shoulder injury.
Bert Carnes (2 years) was a baseball player until last season when he switched to lacrosse. He was key to the defensive success of the Eagles this season.
Jeremiah Cho (2 years) worked incredibly hard after last season and was able to contribute to the team’s success this season.
Kosta Kalamaras (2 years) was previously a tennis player and started playing lacrosse in 2021. He was a starting short stick defensive midfielder in 2022. He was able to keep offensive players out of their rhythm and was key to the clearing game for SFC.
For the three full seasons that the Class of 2022 got to play (the 2020 season being cancelled by Covid), the Class of 2022 accomplished the following:
Was ranked 6th or better in San Diego County in each of those 3 seasons.
Had a 3-year win/loss record of 39-12 (a 76.5% win percentage) and a 4-year win/loss record of 41-14 (75%).
Won outright or shared in 3 out of 3 Coastal League Titles
Competed in the Open Division all 3 years.
Played in more Open Division Playoff games than any other class in SFC history in any sport
Had the first Open Division win for any SFC men’s athletic team – the win over Coronado in 2019.
Had 4 different head coaches in 4 seasons – Tom DeMaio, Donovan Marinez, Dan Carson, and Tomas Rodriguez.
Individual Accomplishments
During the 2022 season, a few of the Seniors and Freshman broke a number of records dating back to 2016 the last year for which records are available. Here are just a few of the records.
Bobby Berg
88 goals in a season, the most ever in a single season since 2016 and likely in program history.
151 career goals, the most in a career by any SFC player since 2016.
108 points in a season, the most ever in a single season since 2016 and likely in program history.
188 career points, the most in a career by any SFC player since 2016.
Sam Cooper
224 saves in a season, the most ever in a single season since 2016 and likely in program history.
560 career saves, the most ever by any SFC player since 2016 and likely in program history.
62.9% save percentage in a season, the highest since 2016 and likely the highest in program history
Brendon De Bont
36 assists during the 2021 season and 34 assists in the 2022 season are the most assists in a season for any player since 2016.
76 careers assists, the most in a career by any SFC player since 2016.
140 career points puts Brendon in the select “100 point club” with only a handful of other SFC players
Colton Lehberg
304 faceoff wins in 2022 is the most by any SFC player since 2016.
667 career faceoff wins is the most by any SFC player since 2016.
87.8% faceoff win percentage in 2021 is the highest of any SFC player since 2016 and likely in program history.
262 ground balls in 2022 is the most by an SFC player since 2016, and likely in program history.
564 career ground balls is the most by any SFC player since 2016.
DJ Tovtin
DJ led the team in caused turnovers this season with 21.
Bobby (Messiah University - DIII), Sam (Dartmouth – DI), and Colton (Grove City College - DIII) will continue their lacrosse careers playing in the NCAA in 2023. Colton and Bobby will play against each other for the next 4 years since Messiah plays Grove City College.
Junior Class.
Aaron Bolt was a key part of an SFC Eagles defense that stopped opponents in their tracks. He recorded the 3rd most caused turnovers this season (15).
Matthew Briggs’ speed out of the box was fun to watch as he sprinted by defenders as if they were standing still. He was an integral part of the SFC offense this season. Matthew scored 9 goals, including an amazing goal against LCC right in front of the crease after picking up a ground ball.
Rex Maloni was back this season after being out almost the entire 2021 season with an injury. The left‑handed sniper will be key to the SFC offense next season.
Logan McClurkin will play a big role for the 2023 team. This past season was his first playing lacrosse and he was able to score his first varsity lacrosse goal this season.
We cannot wait to have Brett Koopman back next season.
Underclassman Contributions
Sophomore Trey Adcox was a key contributor for the Eagles this year at the midfield position. His speed and tenacity make him an invaluable asset to the team. Trey scored 7 goals and had 2 assists (9 points) this season. The amazing thing was how important those goals were, often coming at times when the team needed a pick-me-up. He will be one of the leaders over the next two seasons.
Nobody can remember a season where more freshman contributed to the success of the SFC Men’s Lacrosse Team. Not even the Class of 2022 can boast such a contribution. Consider the following:
Freshmen Ben Wakeham and Johnny Grimstad started on defense for a majority of games this season. Both started the Open Division playoff game against a La Costa Canyon team where all 6 of their offensive players will play D1 NCAA lacrosse after graduating. Ben had the second most caused turnovers this season (16). Ben and Johnny held their own against some of the very best offensive players that San Diego lacrosse threw at them this season.
Parker Guiltinan 22 goals and 3 assists for 25 points this season as a freshman. The 22 goals are 8 more goals than Bobby Berg scored his freshman year.
Magnus Falkiewicz had 11 goals and 13 assist for 23 points this season as a freshman midfielder. That is 3 fewer goals and 10 more assists than Bobby Berg had his freshman campaign as an attackman and 9 more assists that Brendon De Bont had his freshman year. Magnus’ field vision and passing in tight windows was fun to watch this season.
All I have to say is this -- watch out Bobby and Brendon because Parker and Magnus are taking a good hard look at your records from this season and your career records, and they are licking their chops. Assuming there is not another pandemic, Parker and Magnus will have 3 more full seasons to break your records. This is going to be fun to watch.
It seems highly unlikely that any other team in the top 20 in San Diego fielded more freshman starters than SFC did in 2022.
The future looks very bright indeed for SFC lacrosse.
Go Eagles!