by gary greenbaum posted 06/27/2011 
It was another thriller at the Beach Field in Newport Beach on Sunday. For the second week in a row the Beverly Hills Bucks Post Collegiate team walked away with a one goal victory, this time over the SCLA South Division Champion and defending California State Club Champion 40 Thieves.
Like last Sunday’s win over Newport Beach Lacrosse Club the game featured outstanding goalie play. Last week it was Vanderbilt’s Adam Liegner. This week it was U C San Diego’s very own Dash Pomerantz who ended the day with 12 saves. Dash was really helped out by the Buck’s best defensive performance of the season (and there have been several good ones). Whether they were driving on the crease or trying to dodge from the midfield, Bucks defenders Sam Vollen, UCSB’s tandem of James Guzik and Chris Schaible and Hobart’s C J Thomas were up to the task. And whoever ended up with the bad luck of being defended by LSM John Brasko decided they were better off passing the rock. As usual Brasko was a two way threat ending up scoring a transition goal in the first half on a rocket from the restraining line. LSM defensive specialists Bryan Bates and Janairo Hernandez were also great today especially on the all important ground balls.
We all know that in lacrosse “possession” is the name of the game and possession starts with at the faceoff “X”. Between Harvard’s Garrett Schabb & Claremont’s Phillip Trapp, the Buck’s two faceoff specialists, Beverly Hills ended up winning 70% of the game’s face offs and that was huge. The Buck’s took their first lead of the game early in the first quarter on goals by Philip Trapp and Casey Costello jumping out 2-0 but 40 Thieves fought back and tied it at the end of the quarter. Beverly Hills retook the lead in the beginning of quarter two and led 7-4 at the half. But again 40 Thieves fought back and narrowed the lead to two goals with the third quarter ending with the Bucks up by two. The game tightened in the fourth quarter with two quick goals by 40 Thieves and the score remained tied at eight at the 2:57 mark of the fourth. Then Buck’s goalie Dash Pomerantz added to his save total snatching a low to high shot by a 40 Thieves midfielder and made a quick outlet pass to Chris Schaible who saw an open Bret Tietjen at the top of the box. Tietjen snared the long pole’s pass and got the ball to a Johns Hopkin’s Michael Doneger cutting across the crease. Doneger buried the ball in the net and the Buck’s rode out the final minutes of the game for the win.
The scoring ended up with a hat trick and an assist for Doneger, two goals & two assists for U Mass’s Casey Costello, one goal & one assist for both Phillip Trapp & Hoftra’s Brett Tietjen, two goals from Syracuse’s midfielder Brendan Luftus and a goal from LSM standout John Brasko.
The Bucks were formed in 2007 and the closest they came to a win in their first two years were two overtime losses to South Bay & Hollywood. Their third year took them to the SCLA finals where they lost to a great Quiksilver team. But with the roster remaining stable with key additions in 2009 & 2010 the Bucks ready and they are the first North Division team to win the Southern California Championship since Newport Beach won it in 2006 and are only the second North team to do so in the 15 year history of the league. But it doesn’t stop here as they will travel this Saturday to
Del Norte High School in San Diego to faceoff against Northern California’s Olympic Lacrosse Club at 7:00 in the California State Championship game at the
Pacific Lacrosse Festival which will benefit the Wounded Warriors Project.
