Lacrosse

A cross-country move to Newport Beach in 2007 turned out to be a life-changing experience for Daria Gordeeva-Grinkova. Before, she seemed destined to become a figure skater, following in the footsteps of her renowned parents, Katia Gordeeva and Sergei Grinkova. But when Daria came from Connecticut to Newport Beach two weeks before her freshman year at Sage Hill School, she hung up the skates and took up lacrosse. The life of a competitive ice skater is behind her. Daria’s life has changed.

BOYS' LACROSSE Corona del Mar 10, Marin Catholic 4 SAN FRANCISCO - Senior goalie Michael Ortlieb made 13 saves, helping the Sea Kings, ranked fifth in the state by laxpower.com, win their second game at the Jerry Langkammer Invitational at St. Ignatius Prep on Friday. CdM improved to 13-0 on the season. Jack Ortlieb finished with three goals and Michael Keasey had three assists. The Sea Kings close out tournament play Saturday with a game against San Jose Bellarmine Prep.

DANA POINT - The Corona del Mar High boys' lacrosse team stayed perfect and it pulled off the feat in a game it failed to win the last two times. The contest is the biggest one in Orange County every year. In their third trip to the U.S. Lacrosse Southern Section South Division finale in four years, the Sea Kings can call themselves champions. Top-seeded CdM grabbed the lead first and never trailed. The Sea Kings finished their opponent this time, beating third-seeded San Clemente, 9-6, at Dana Hills High on Wednesday night.

CORONA DEL MAR - "This one's for Moose. " So read the back of the T-shirts worn by the Corona del Mar High boys' lacrosse team, coaches and fans Saturday. The Sea Kings didn't really need extra motivation for the Battle of the Bay game against rival Newport Harbor, but "Moose" provided some. Warren "Moose" Mix is the father of CdM Coach G.W. Mix. In recent days "Moose" has been ill, in critical condition at Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore. G.W. Mix went to Maryland for more than a week to be with his father and his family, only getting back into Orange County late Friday night.

CORONA DEL MAR - The weather was cool, even misty at times late Saturday afternoon at Corona del Mar High. This did not matter to the members of the CdM girls' lacrosse team, who wore eye black under their eyes. It's not something the Sea Kings normally do, but then again it's not every day they play rival Newport Harbor in the Battle of the Bay. "It's a Harbor special," CdM junior Molly Rovzar said of the eye black. By the end of the game, the Sea Kings had shown just how special their team is this season.

G.W. Mix, a Newport Coast resident, is definitely looking forward to Saturday. That’s when his team, the Los Angeles Riptide, plays in the New Balance Zip Major League Lacrosse semifinals against the Denver Outlaws. Mix, who also heads up a local youth program, the Newport Beach Dawgs, is the general manager of the Riptide. They’ll be playing at Harvard Stadium in Boston. The winner will play in the championship game the next day. Sunday’s championship game will air live on ESPN2.

Sage Hill School will be adding boys’ and girls’ lacrosse teams for the upcoming spring season, Athletic Director John Poffenberger said Tuesday. The teams will be official, CIF-sanctioned teams rather than club teams. The CIF Southern Section sanctioned lacrosse as a sport in 2006. “More and more students are getting exposed to [lacrosse] at a younger age,” Poffenberger said. “From some of the research I’ve done, it’s one of the fastest growing sports in Orange County.

Newport Beach high school club teams ask school district for recognition as a CIF sport.It's a heady time for lacrosse in Newport Beach, even with spring still a few months away. Both public high schools in town have started lacrosse clubs over the last few years, with participation by both boys and girls on the rise. A local youth league offers sticks and balls to hundreds of elementary and middle-school students. UC Irvine is contributing coaches. In the Newport-Mesa Unified School District, however, lacrosse is still missing one thing: status as an official sport.

The Newport-Mesa Unified School District voted Tuesday to approve lacrosse as an official sport, with the condition that schools raise enough money to field teams for the upcoming year. In recent months, the lacrosse clubs at Newport Harbor and Corona del Mar high schools have lobbied the district to approve their sport for California Interscholastic Federation status ? in essence, making it a sport rather than an extracurricular activity. Following the school board's vote, the lacrosse booster clubs at both schools will have to raise 75% of the first-year costs by March 31 to put the sport on the field for spring 2007.

With a new sport at Sage Hill School, it’s expected that players struggle learning how to play lacrosse. The challenges, a new field, new equipment, new rules, new everything you can imagine. But their coaches confused them even more before they grabbed sticks and strapped on the pads in February. Of all things, their coaches’ names added a new dimension. The introductions went something like this: Hello, I’m Chris Marshall, your head coach. Hello, I’m also Chris Marshall, your assistant coach.

MISSION VIEJO - This one's for Moose, indeed. Michael Keasey scored the go-ahead goal with 10:46 left in the game, goalie Michael Ortlieb made four saves in the final wild two minutes and the Corona del Mar High boys' lacrosse team won its first U.S. Lacrosse CIF Southern Section championship, 7-6, over Palos Verdes. The victory capped off a dream season at 24-0 Saturday at Mission Viejo High. All the CdM players wore light blue shirts underneath their jerseys that read, "This one's for Moose," as in Warren "Moose" Mix, father of head coach G.W. Mix, who passed away May 4. "They wore those shirts when he was sick in the hospital," Mix said.

DANA POINT - The Corona del Mar High boys' lacrosse team stayed perfect and it pulled off the feat in a game it failed to win the last two times. The contest is the biggest one in Orange County every year. In their third trip to the U.S. Lacrosse Southern Section South Division finale in four years, the Sea Kings can call themselves champions. Top-seeded CdM grabbed the lead first and never trailed. The Sea Kings finished their opponent this time, beating third-seeded San Clemente, 9-6, at Dana Hills High on Wednesday night.

CORONA DEL MAR - Gabby Smith took the pass from Torrey Attyah, flinging the ball as hard as she could into the back of the net. The Attyah-to-Smith connection is nothing new for the Corona del Mar High girls' lacrosse team. This time, the two senior captains desperately needed to make that connection to keep their high school careers alive. Smith put the shot away 2:10 into sudden-death overtime, lifting the No. 7-seeded Sea Kings to a thrilling 19-18 victory over No. 10 Capistrano Valley in the first round of the U.S. Lacrosse Southern Section South Division playoffs.

CORONA DEL MAR - Hunter Molnar said the Corona del Mar High boys' lacrosse team hasn't turned in a perfect game in the regular season. Yet, the Sea Kings' record this regular season has been flawless. Perfect is how they finished the regular season at home on Wednesday. The Sea Kings routed Beckman, 16-2, to cap the program's first undefeated regular season. That is 19 games played without losing or tying a game. Ten of those in Pacific Coast League play. The Sea Kings added to their already historic day. They collected their fifth straight undefeated league title.

BOYS' LACROSSE Corona del Mar 10, Marin Catholic 4 SAN FRANCISCO - Senior goalie Michael Ortlieb made 13 saves, helping the Sea Kings, ranked fifth in the state by laxpower.com, win their second game at the Jerry Langkammer Invitational at St. Ignatius Prep on Friday. CdM improved to 13-0 on the season. Jack Ortlieb finished with three goals and Michael Keasey had three assists. The Sea Kings close out tournament play Saturday with a game against San Jose Bellarmine Prep.

Three weekends in a row last November, Molly Rovzar traveled to the East Coast. Rovzar racked up the frequent flier miles with her XTeam club girls' lacrosse team. First there was a tournament in Maryland, then another tournament in Maryland, then a tournament in Florida. The grind did not wear on Rovzar. In fact, the Corona del Mar High junior didn't consider it a grind at all. "It was crazy, but it was the best lacrosse I've ever played," she said. "It was so much fun, and so intense.

CORONA DEL MAR - "This one's for Moose. " So read the back of the T-shirts worn by the Corona del Mar High boys' lacrosse team, coaches and fans Saturday. The Sea Kings didn't really need extra motivation for the Battle of the Bay game against rival Newport Harbor, but "Moose" provided some. Warren "Moose" Mix is the father of CdM Coach G.W. Mix. In recent days "Moose" has been ill, in critical condition at Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore. G.W. Mix went to Maryland for more than a week to be with his father and his family, only getting back into Orange County late Friday night.

CORONA DEL MAR - The weather was cool, even misty at times late Saturday afternoon at Corona del Mar High. This did not matter to the members of the CdM girls' lacrosse team, who wore eye black under their eyes. It's not something the Sea Kings normally do, but then again it's not every day they play rival Newport Harbor in the Battle of the Bay. "It's a Harbor special," CdM junior Molly Rovzar said of the eye black. By the end of the game, the Sea Kings had shown just how special their team is this season.

Corona del Mar and Newport Harbor are going to play for a second time this year in high school boys' lacrosse. More than Back Bay bragging rights are at stake. The fifth-seeded Sea Kings (14-4) play host to the 12th-seeded Sailors (8-9) in the opening round of the U.S. Lacrosse Orange County Southern Section Division I playoffs Tuesday at 4 p.m. CdM beat the Sailors, 8-3, in the Battle of the Bay at Newport Harbor on March 25. CdM, which has beaten the Tars each of the last six seasons, is trying to return to the Orange County Southern Section Division I final for the third straight season.

BOYS' LACROSSE Corona del Mar 12, Palos Verdes 5 PALOS VERDES — CdM junior Hunter Molnar had four goals and an assist as the Sea Kings upset Palos Verdes in their regular-season finale Saturday. Connor Canale had three goals and two assists for CdM (14-4), which is ranked No. 10 in Southern California by laxpower.com. Palos Verdes is ranked No. 7. Michael Keasey and Connor Gaal each scored twice for CdM, Donald Dalton had a goal and an assist and Jack Ortlieb, Chris Von Der Ahe and Parker Eweles had two assists each.