By Ed Piper
In the second period after La Jolla went down 5-2 to host Oaks Christian Tuesday, Nov. 19, the Vikings put on a mini-comeback led by Tor Martin, senior Trevor Kula, and Quinn Daniels to close the gap to two late in the quarter.
La Jolla coach Tom Atwell put the starting group back in the pool to begin the period. Within minutes, Martin, a junior, scored to put the Vikings within reach at 5-3.
Then, after the Lions--ranked third in the nation--countered with a pair of quick goals, Kula, a team captain playing his last high school game, fired one in the cage past Oaks Christian sophomore goalie Ryder Bjork, 7-4.
La Jolla's last gasp, as it turned out, was Daniels, a sophomore, scoring right after Kula to make the score 7-5, the Vikings edging closer.
That was with 1:53 left in the half. The visitors, who drove 150 miles one way for this first game in the Southern California Regionals, had given their best.
Coach Jack Kocur's squad, playing home matches on a lavish private-school campus in Westlake Village--though La Jolla's Coggan Pool has nothing to apologize for as a stellar facility--finished the half ahead 8-5.
Then, in the third quarter, Lion standout Camden Kocur, the coach's son, went on a tear, scoring four goals of a total of six by Oaks Christian in the period, building an insurmountable 14-6 lead and blowing the Vikings out.
The final was 15-7. La Jolla's outstanding Fall campaign came to an end, after a satisfying win over rival Bishop's in the CIF San Diego Section Open Division semifinals Nov. 12. That was when the graduating seniors shined, with the leadership of Fin Alford, Kula, Aiden and Liam Flanagan, captain Jackson Loyd, and Harry Pearce, among others.
That win, despite a loss in the finals Nov. 16 to eventual Open champion Cathedral Catholic, set Atwell's crew on the path to play at Oaks Christian.
The Vikes' Jackson Brown, a senior captain, was able to play in the cage part of the second half at Oaks Christian.
