First Round

• No. 3 Arizona State cruised to a 17-5 win over No. 14 Georgia.

• No. 5 Chapman lost a four-overtime thriller to No. 12 Oregon, 8-7. It was the Panthers’ second tight loss of the season to Oregon, which won 9-8 at Chapman in February. Chapman finished 13-6, with two losses to the Ducks and one each to Arizona State, BYU, and national finalists Colorado and Colorado State.

• No. 6 UC Santa Barbara rallied back after a slow start to a big 14-7 win over No. 11 Oregon State.

• No. 13 Grand Canyon was unable to get revenge on No. 4 BYU, falling 17-8. The Cougars beat the ‘Lopes 13-12 in March.

• No. 5 Concordia (Division II) was upset by No. 12 Grove City (Pa.), 12-9. The Wolverines rode a 6-2 second-quarter scoring surge to the victory. The Eagles finished 12-4 with losses to eventual champion St. Thomas, to national runner-up Westminster, 14-13 to Division I Utah and to Grove City.

Quarterfinals

• No. 3 ASU took down No. 6 UCSB 15-5 in a rematch of the SLC finals, which Arizona State won 9-5. The Gauchos finished their season 14-7, with three of the losses coming against the Sun Devils, one each against national finalists Colorado and Colorado State, and one to No. 5-seed Chapman.

ASU was the only SLC team to advance to the MCLA Final Four this season. (photo courtesy of Derek Miller, featured on MCLA Fan)

Semifinals

• No. 3 ASU was unable to reach the championship game as No. 2 Colorado scored a last-minute goal to beat the Sun Devils 5-4 and set up a title grudge match against defending champ and No. 1 seed Colorado State.

Finals

Colorado State took a 4-0 halftime lead and had little trouble beating the Buffaloes 7-2 to win the title and cap an undefeated, 21-0 season. The Rams also had beaten Colorado 8-3 to wrap up the regular season and 9-6 to win the Rocky Mountain Lacrosse Conference tournament.

Local players

While there were no SLC teams in the finals, there were quite a few Southland Lax alums in the championship game. Two Southland guys even put up points in the title match: CSU’s Jake Johnson (Lake Forest/El Toro HS) with a goal and Colorado’s Jack Cranston (Santa Margarita Cathollic) with an assist.

Here’s a rundown of other Southland players in the title game:

Colorado State
• FR Attack Jake Johnson (El Toro ’11, PG Year at Bridgton Academy) – 9G, 2A

Colorado
• FR Attack Hunter Molnar (Corona del Mar ’12) – 4G, 1A
• RS FR Attack Jake Lucier (JSerra ’11) – 2G, 2A
• SO Attack Jace Gan (Huntington Beach ’11) – 25G, 17A
• RS JR LSM Sean Crane (Loyola ’09) – 6GB
• SR Midfield Jack • Cranston (Santa Margarita ’09) – 18G, 6A
• RS SR Midfield Cory Ames (Newport Harbor ’08) – 3G, 4A, 39GB

When we previewed the division finals, we weren’t sure if No. 6 Harvard-Westlake could continue its run through the North against No. 1 Palos Verdes. However, the Wolverines pulled out a 9-7 victory in a game that was close throughout. Southland Lax was there to take in the game, and a full photo album can be found on our Facebook page.

To reach the final, Harvard Westlake beat the Nos. 3, 2 and 1 seeds in succession. The Wolverines played aggressively and without regard to who was favored — they just made plays. Ultimately, they made more than Palos Verdes, which seemed to lack a sense of urgency until the fourth quarter, when Harvard Westlake took the lead and it became clear the Wolverines were not going away. By the time PV tried to turn it on, though, Harvard Westlake was in control.

In the South, No. 1 Corona del Mar faced No. 3 St. Margaret’s in a rematch of a regular season game that SMES pulled out in overtime. The Tartans were the only Southern California team to have beaten CdM this season, and through dominating face-off play by OC Player of the Year Ryan Harnisch, SMES took down the defending champion Sea Kings by a score of 12-7.

Each Tartan attackmen, including senior Alex Waller, had four points for SMES in the Southern Section final.

Going into the final game, only one thing was certain: A new champion would emerge in the Southern Section. St. Margaret’s started strong with an early 2-0 lead, but Harvard-Westlake junior midfielder Jack Temko led a five goal run to give the Wolverines a 5-2 halftime lead.

The second half was all SMES, though, as the Tartans scored the first three goals of the third to tie the game en route to 13 second-half tallies and a 15-8 win. SMES had a balanced effort, with each attackman scoring four points each, another strong performance by FOGO Ryan Harnisch, and a breakout performance by junior midfielder Hunter Eddington (6g, 1a).

In the end, Harvard-Westlake’s brilliant playoff run came up short, and the Southern Section crown remained in Orange County. St. Margaret’s 19th-consecutive win marked the seventh consecutive championship for an OC team.

Check out a full photo album of the Southern Section final here.

North Final
No. 6 Harvard Westlake vs. No. 1 Palos Verdes
Wednesday, 7 p.m., West Torrance HS

The Wolverines (14-3) knocked off two higher-seeded teams from the Marmonte League on the road to reach the final, winning 16-8 at Agoura on Thursday and 11-10 in OT at Westlake on Saturday. Harvard Westlake’s three losses all came to playoff teams — Oak Park 13-11 in early March and Mission League opponents Loyola, 8-4, and Crespi, 15-7, down the stretch of the regular season.

Offensively, the Wolverines don’t seem to have much trouble scoring, reaching double-digits in 12 of 17 games this season and 9-plus in 15 of 17. Defensively, though, they can be vulnerable, having allowed nearly seven goals per game and double-digit totals in five games.

Against Palos Verdes (19-1), HW will face a high-scoring and battle-tested team. The Sea Kings, who won the north bracket last season, average 13 goals per game and have been held under nine only twice. PV’s only lost was 8-7 to south bracket semifinalist JSerra Catholic in early April.

I haven’t seen PV play this season, and it’s hard to glean a lot about a team just by comparing scores and perusing stat sheets. But it’s clear the Sea Kings are solid on offense, led by senior attack Tony Romeri (59 G, 36 A); at the faceoff dot, led by freshman Peter Henkhaus (.693 pct) and senior freshman Rizal Smith (.735 pct); and on defense, led by senior defender Justin Jones (46 GBs, 45 CTOs) and sophomore goalie David McCann (.675 save pct).

I’ve seen Harvard Westlake a few times this season, and as much as I’d love to see the upsets continue and the Mission League stand up, I don’t think the Wolverines’ defense can hold up to a team as deep and talented as Palos Verdes.

South Final
No. 3 St. Margaret’s Episcopal vs. No. 1 Corona del Mar
Wednesday, 7:30 p.m., Mission Viejo HS

I haven’t seen either of these teams play this season, but I am somewhat familiar with Corona del Mar after their undefeated run to the Southern Section title last spring and the chance to watch many of them over the summer at Champ Camp. Suffice it to say, there is a lot of talent on this roster, enough that the Sea Kings kept winning even when star senior attack Jack Ortlieb was out with a hamstring injury.

Ortlieb was hurt April 20 in CdM’s 12-11 loss to St. Margaret’s — the team’s only loss to a Southern Section team in two seasons — and missed four games. He returned for Saturday’s semifinal win over JSerra and had two goals and an assist. One of the goals came in the closing seconds of the first half, when he fired in a laser from 30-yards out to cap a stellar fast break.

Ortlieb is joined up front by senior attack Casey Mix to form a potent offense — the Sea Kings average 13 goals per game — and they are supported by a solid defense — averaging 5 goals allowed per game — anchored by sophomore goalie Hoyt Crance. 3d does a much better job of breaking down key players for CdM here.

I know even less about St. Margaret’s, but judging from scores and stats — again, a less-than-perfect method — it appears the Tartans played a tough schedule right out of the gate, facing San Clemente, Oak Park, Foothill and San Diego schools La Costa Canyon and Cathedral Catholic. The result was a 2-4 start. Since then, though, St. Margaret’s has won 17 in a row, including a win over CdM, two over JSerra and one over Foothill. The Tartans have outscored three playoff opponents — El Toro, Tesoro and Foothill — 53-13.

Best I can tell, the St. Margaret’s offense runs through the senior attack duo of Alex Waller and Chase Williams, but any team that averages 13 goals a game — and 15 per game in its 17-game win streak — is getting contributions from more than a couple guys.

Crespi and senior goalkeeper Luke Mitchell have allowed only eight goals in winning two playoff games this week.

The top-seeded and defending champion Sea Kings beat Oak Park 9-5, but the rest of the evening very nearly belonged to the Mission League. Crespi held off Thousand Oaks 4-3 to advance, and sixth-seeded Harvard Westlake led from start to finish in dispatching No. 3 Agoura 16-8.

Seventh-seeded Loyola nearly pulled off the upset of the night, leading No. 2 Westlake 6-3 just before the half and 8-7 with less than five minutes to play. But Westlake responded, scoring three in the final four-plus minutes to win 10-8.

So the Marmonte League had three of the top four seeds in No. 2 Westlake, No. 3 Agoura and No. 4 Newbury Park. The Mission League had No. 5-seeded Crespi, No. 6 Harvard Westlake and No. 7 Loyola. Only Westlake remains alive from the Marmonte, while the Mission put two teams into the semis. One league overrated? The other underrated? Either way, it’s clear from the results so far that after Palos Verdes, there are a lot of pretty even teams in the north.

Judging by the scores out of Orange County, on the other hand, the seeding in the south was pretty accurate — or there is simply a bigger disparity between the top few teams and the rest of the field. In 12 games thus far — eight first round and four second round — there has been one upset (No. 9 Beckman over No. 8 Los Alamitos, 9-8) and eight double-digit winning margins. In fact, outside of that one-goal Beckman win, the closest margin in any game has been eight goals.

Let’s see if the Orange County semifinals can change that — Saturday at Aliso Niguel HS, 5 p.m. and 7:15 p.m. The OC title game will be played Wednesday at Mission Viejo HS, 8 p.m.

The north semis also take place Saturday, with Palos Verdes and Westlake playing host as the highest remaining seeds (times TBD). The north final will be played Wednesday, May 8, at Torrance West HS, 7 p.m.

The Southern Section final, featuring the north and south winners, will be played Saturday, May 11, at Torrance West HS at 1 p.m.

North bracket
First round
No. 1 Palos Verdes 13, No. 16 Brentwood 6
No. 9 Oak Park 11, No. 8 Malibu 6
No. 3 Agoura 6, No. 14 Cate 5
No. 6 Harvard Westlake 16, No. 11 Peninsula 7
No. 2 Westlake 12, No. 15 Palisades Charter 7
No. 7 Loyola 12, No. 10 Redondo Union 2
No. 13 Thousand Oaks 8, No. 4 Newbury Park 6
No. 5 Crespi 6, No. 12 Oaks Christian 5, OT

Second round
No. 1 Palos Verdes 9, No. 9 Oak Park 5
No. 6 Harvard Westlake 16, No. 3 Agoura 8
No. 2 Westlake 10, No. 7 Loyola 8
No. 5 Crespi 4, No. 13 Thousand Oaks 3

Semifinals
No. 5 Crespi (13-5) at No. 1 Palos Verdes (18-1), Saturday, 5 p.m.
No. 6 Harvard Westlake (13-3) at No. 2 Westlake (14-2), Saturday, 7:30 p.m.

South bracket
First round
No. 1 Corona del Mar 16, No. 16 Dana Hills 5
No. 9 Beckman 9, No. 8 Los Alamitos 8
No. 3 St. Margaret’s 17, No. 14 El Toro 3
No. 6 Tesoro 18, No. 11 Aliso Niguel 2
No. 2 Foothill 14, No. 15 Yorba Linda 5
No. 7 San Clemente 17, No. 10 Great Oak 5
No. 4 JSerra 14, No. 13 Newport Harbor 4
No. 5 Huntington Beach 10, No. 12 Santa Margarita 2

Second round
No. 1 Corona del Mar 18, No. 9 Beckman 5
No. 4 JSerra 16, No. 5 Huntington Beach 8
No. 3 St. Margaret’s 17, No. 6 Tesoro 4
No. 2 Foothill 13, No. 7 San Clemente 2

Semifinals at Aliso Niguel HS
No. 4 JSerra (15-4) vs. No. 1 Corona del Mar (17-2), 5 p.m. or 7:15 p.m.
No. 3 St. Margaret’s (18-4) vs. No. 2 Foothill (17-4), 5 p.m. or 7:15 p.m.

It was the second win over the Panthers in four days for the Lancers, who beat Newbury 9-6 Friday.

No. 5 Crespi avoided becoming the second upset victim, holding off No. 12 Oaks Christian in overtime, 6-5. Now the Celts play host to Thousand Oaks in a second-round game Thursday at 6 p.m. Last season, T.O. eliminated Crespi 13-12 in a first-round game.

No. 14 Cate nearly took down No. 3 Agoura, losing only 6-5. In another small upset in the north, ninth-seed Oak Park beat eighth-seeded Malibu 11-6.

The south bracket saw only one small upset, with ninth-seeded Beckman edging eighth-seeded Los Alamitos 9-8. Otherwise, the top seeds all advanced by margins of at least eight goals.

First-round playoff scores:

North bracket
First round
No. 1 Palos Verdes 13, No. 16 Brentwood 6
No. 9 Oak Park 11, No. 8 Malibu 6
No. 3 Agoura 6, No. 14 Cate 5
No. 6 Harvard Westlake 16, No. 11 Peninsula 7
No. 2 Westlake 12, No. 15 Palisades Charter 7
No. 7 Loyola 12, No. 10 Redondo Union 2
No. 13 Thousand Oaks 8, No. 4 Newbury Park 6
No. 5 Crespi 6, No. 12 Oaks Christian 5, OT

Second round: Thursday
No. 9 Oak Park (9-8) at No. 1 Palos Verdes (17-1), 5 p.m.
No. 6 Harvard Westlake (12-3) at No. 3 Agoura (14-4), 7:30 p.m.
No. 7 Loyola (12-6) at No. 2 Westlake (13-2), 7:30 p.m.
No. 13 Thousand Oaks (9-7) at No. 5 Crespi (12-5), 6:30 p.m.

South bracket
First round
No. 1 Corona del Mar 16, No. 16 Dana Hills 5
No. 9 Beckman 9, No. 8 Los Alamitos 8
No. 3 St. Margaret’s 17, No. 14 El Toro 3
No. 6 Tesoro 18, No. 11 Aliso Niguel 2
No. 2 Foothill 14, No. 15 Yorba Linda 5
No. 7 San Clemente 17, No. 10 Great Oak 5
No. 4 JSerra 14, No. 13 Newport Harbor 4
No. 5 Huntington Beach 10, No. 12 Santa Margarita 2

Second round: Thursday
No. 9 Beckman (13-4) at No. 1 Corona del Mar (16-2), 5:15 p.m.
No. 5 Huntington Beach (14-3) at No. 4 JSerra (14-4), 7:30 p.m.
No. 6 Tesoro (13-2) at No. 3 St. Margaret’s (17-4), 7:30 p.m.
No. 7 San Clemente (13-5) at No. 2 Foothill (16-4), 3:30 p.m.

Last year, CdM took down five-time champion Foothill in the South Division final before defeating Palos Verdes in the CIF championship game.

The first two rounds will be played this Tuesday and Thursday, respectively, and will be hosted by the higher seeded team.

Here is the full list of first-round pairings:

No. 16 Dana Hills (11-5) at No. 1 Corona del Mar (15-2)
No. 9 Beckman (12-4) at No. 8 Los Alamitos (11-6)

No. 14 El Toro (8-8) at No. 3 St. Margaret’s (16-4)
No. 11 Aliso Niguel (11-5) at No. 6 Tesoro (12-2)

No. 15 Yorba Linda (16-1) at No. 2 Foothill (15-4)
No. 10 Great Oak (12-5) at No. 7 San Clemente (12-5)

No. 13 Newport Harbor (6-11) at No. 4 JSerra (13-4)
No. 12 Santa Margarita (7-11) at No. 5 Huntington Beach (13-3)

North Division playoff pairings also were announced this weekend.

The winner of the South Division will take on the winner from the North in the CIF Southern Section championship game on May 11 at West High School in Torrance.

Last year, Palos Verdes celebrated victory in the north bracket. The Sea Kings are seeded No. 1 again this year.

Last year, PV was the top seed in the north and beat Palisades Charter in the north final before falling to Corona del Mar in the Southern Section final.

Here is the full list of first-round pairings (dates and times listed where available):

No. 16 Brentwood (6-6) at No. 1 Palos Verdes (16-1)
No. 9 Oak Park (8-8) at No. 8 Malibu (11-5), Tuesday, 4 p.m.

No. 14 Cate (7-2) at No. 3 Agoura (13-4)
No. 11 Redondo Union (8-6) at No. 6 Harvard Westlake (11-3)

No. 15 Palisades Charter (14-5) at No. 2 Westlake (12-2), Tuesday, 7:30 p.m.
No. 10 Peninsula (11-5) at No. 7 Loyola (11-6)

No. 13 Thousand Oaks (8-7) at No. 4 Newbury Park (13-5)
No. 12 Oaks Christian (7-6) at No. 5 Crespi (11-5), Tuesday, 6 p.m.

When Corona del Mar fell to St. Margaret’s Episcopal (13-4) on Saturday for its first Southern Section loss since 2011, it also meant little -– for the Sea Kings at least. The overtime loss, which did not bump CdM from its top-ranked spot on LaxPower, was against a strong SMES team that, after beating fifth-ranked JSerra (12-3) earlier in the week, is hoping to win a Trinity League title and secure a home game in the opening round of the playoffs.

So what does the upset mean for the playoff picture? Corona del Mar, which should wrap-up the season with a 15-2 record after playing Marina (11-6) and Mater Dei (3-10) this week, still will be the No. 1 seed in the South playoffs. Seeds 2 through 7, however, are still up for grabs between Foothill (14-4), Tesoro (10-2), JSerra, St. Margaret’s, San Clemente (10-5) and Huntington Beach (11-3).

Corona del Mar, despite its recent loss, has locked up the No. 1 seed going into the OC playoffs. (Photo courtesy @cdmboyslax)

Foothill should be the No. 2 seed, but in order to secure it the Knights need to win their last remaining game against El Toro (8-6), which traditionally is one of their two biggest rivals (the other being CdM). Despite the Chargers record being down this year, they are riding a five game winning streak including a 7-5 win over Tesoro. The Knights still should beat El Toro, but anything can happen in rivalry games.

The highest seed Tesoro can get most likely is No. 3. With should-win final games against Mission Viejo (0-14) and Trabuco Hills (5-11), Tesoro will be the South Coast League champion. It could get passed in the rankings, though, depending on the outcome of the St. Margaret’s-JSerra rematch next weekend. If JSerra wins, the Lions should be the No. 3 seed and share the Trinity League title with SMES. If the Tartans win – and claim the Trinity League title outright -– Tesoro should remain the 3-seed, JSerra should drop to No. 5 and St. Margaret’s should come in at No. 4.

If JSerra is somehow able to blow out St. Margaret’s, though, and San Clemente can take care of business against Trabuco Hills (2-4) and El Toro, San Clemente might jump St. Margaret’s, making San Clemente the 4-seed and SMES the 5-seed. Or, if JSerra does have a large win over SMES and San Clemente doesn’t beat El Toro, Huntington Beach could sneak into the No. 5 spot if the Oilers can beat Marina (11-6) and Los Alamitos (11-4) to claim the Sunset League title. Assuming the JSerra-SMES game is close, though, Huntington Beach probably won’t be higher than the 6-seed, which will happen only if San Clemente loses to El Toro.

So as you can see, there is a lot riding on the final week of the season in Orange County for everyone not named Corona del Mar. Seeds eight through sixteen are still uncertain as well, although Los Al, Beckman (9-4), Aliso Niguel (10-4) and Yorba Linda (15-1) seem like locks for the playoffs. However, I really don’t see anyone outside of the top seven having a real chance at capturing the South division title and moving on to the Southern Section championship game. And despite the loss this weekend, its still CdM’s tournament to lose.

Tryouts for the Team Panos U-19 and U-15 teams are at the end of May, but the deadline to register is April 30. More information on Team Panos can be found here.

Registration is also open for the 2013 Panos Lacrosse Summer Camp, scheduled for June 17-21. More information on the camp can be found here.

Short notice on this, but if you’re a lacrosse coach with this Sunday (April 21) free, you might be interested in checking out the “InSideOut Core Coaching Seminar” with former NFL player and coaching expert Joe Ehrmann.

Ehrmann operates Coach For America, a company that provides workshops and seminars for coaches, teachers, corporate leaders and others.

The seminar is Sunday, from 8:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. at Fairmont Preparatory Academy in Anaheim. Cost is $89, and registration can be completed online.