Mariners Clinch First PCAL Title

The Rough Start

Nobody saw a championship coming. The Mariners opened the 2024-25 season with back-to-back losses to Monterey (12-19) and Soquel (13-19), dropping their record to 0-2 before March even arrived. For a team with only one senior on the roster, the early defeats stung. Monterey exposed every growing pain a young team could have, and Soquel poured it on even worse. The scores weren’t close. The Mariners were getting outrun, outmuscled, and outplayed by teams that had been there before.

But the losses were doing their work. Across every position group, new players were stepping into starting roles they’d never imagined holding. Ryan Murphy, a sophomore who’d never played a game of lacrosse before tryouts, earned a spot at attack and immediately showed a nose for the goal. Izayah Castro took on the faceoff dot and played both ways at midfield, learning one of the game’s most demanding positions from scratch. Charlie Zarazua split time between faceoffs and defensive midfield, giving the coaches a versatile option in the middle of the field. In the cage, Cole Moules strapped on the pads for the first time and became the team’s starting goalkeeper. On the back line, Elliot Roth-Bensusan and Andre Reyna locked down close defense — two more first-time players learning on the fly.

It was the kind of roster that looks like a rebuild on paper — and played like one in February. But the raw talent was there. These weren’t kids filling spots; they were athletes figuring out a new sport in real time, with the scoreboard punishing every mistake. The Monterey and Soquel losses exposed how far they had to go. What they didn’t expose was how fast this group could learn.

Inside the locker room, the Mariners knew the season was far from over. Half the roster had never played organized lacrosse before, but none of them were quitting on each other. These February beatdowns would stick with them — and when the stakes got higher, they would remember exactly how losing felt.

Building Momentum

The turnaround started quietly. An away win at Monte Vista Christian (11-8) gave the Mariners their first taste of what winning felt like. Then another road victory at Santa Cruz (12-8) proved the first one wasn’t a fluke. Suddenly, the 0-2 start felt like a distant memory. The first home win against Pacific Grove (9-8) sent a message to the rest of the division: this team could compete with anyone. That one-goal margin showed a toughness that hadn’t been there in February.

Ryan Murphy emerged as a clutch performer, delivering in big moments when the team needed him most. The defense started finding its identity, learning to communicate and trust each other with Cole Moules anchoring things in goal. Coach Dee preached patience and process, and the young roster was finally buying in. Every practice had more energy than the last.

Head Coach

Dairien Boyd

Coach Dee with the Mariners at Hollister

Assistant Coach

Chris Pham

Coach Pham in the huddle at Pacific Grove

A key addition to the coaching staff was assistant coach Chris Pham, a Navy officer training at the Monterey Naval Postgraduate School. Pham had captained Navy’s club lacrosse team at the Naval Academy after playing as a senior defenseman and LSM at Hopewell Valley under coach Rob Siris. He helped run practices through the first half of the season and was on the sideline for most games, bringing a level of defensive structure and intensity that proved integral to the championship run and 13-game win streak.

By month’s end, the Mariners had strung together victory after victory and were gaining confidence with every game. Santa Cruz again, this time a 19-3 blowout. Saratoga in a back-and-forth thriller, 14-13. The team that couldn’t stop anyone in February was now finding ways to win close games and blow open the ones they were supposed to. Something special was building in Aptos.

The Streak

Thirteen consecutive wins. Game after game, the Mariners kept finding ways to win. Some were blowouts. Others came down to the final minutes. But the result was always the same. Parker O’Hara was scoring at will, his 67 goals on the season making him one of the most dangerous attackmen in the section. Defenses couldn’t figure out how to stop him, and every time they tried to shade his way, it opened things up for everyone else.

Spike Sorensen, the team’s only senior, led from the front with 99 points — but the stat sheet didn’t capture the way he pulled younger players aside after bad possessions, or how he was always the first one sprinting in transition. His teammates followed because he never asked them to do anything he wouldn’t do himself. Alex Sandoval was everywhere on the field, playing both ends without ever taking a possession off. His teammates fed off his intensity from the opening face-off to the final whistle. Cole Moules made save after save, anchoring a defense that bent but rarely broke.

The team that started 0-2 had transformed into the best team in the PCAL Mission Division. When they beat Soquel 19-13 in the rematch, redemption for that February loss was complete. With each victory, the belief grew stronger. This wasn’t just a good season anymore. This was a championship run, and the Mariners controlled their own destiny.

Championship

Senior Day came and went. Spike Sorensen, the team’s only senior, was honored alongside his family before the final regular season home game. He’d been the heartbeat of this program all season, a captain who led by example every single day, finishing with 53 goals and 46 assists. The Mariners beat Monterey 22-14 to clinch the top seed in the PCAL Mission Division playoff. The championship opponent would be Pacific Grove, the team they’d beaten 9-8 back in March in a game that could have gone either way.

From the opening whistle, Parker O’Hara and Alex Sandoval made play after play to overwhelm Pacific Grove. The duo was relentless, pushing the pace in transition and finishing everything in sight. The Mariners jumped out to an 8-1 lead early, with Cole Moules making 5 big saves on the other end to shut down everything Pacific Grove threw at him. It looked like a blowout was on. The crowd was electric, parents from both teams packed into the bleachers together. But Pacific Grove clawed back with three straight goals to close the half. At 8-4, their sideline was reenergized and the pressure was squarely on the Mariners.

Pacific Grove kept coming in the second half. The Breakers chipped away at the lead, one goal at a time, until the game was tied 12-12 and headed to overtime. Everything the team had built since those February losses came down to overtime. The Mariners won the opening faceoff and pushed the ball into the attacking zone. Parker O’Hara caught the ball on the crease, turned, and buried the game-winner. 13-12 Aptos. PCAL Mission Division Champions. Cole Moules was lifted onto his teammates’ shoulders as the celebration erupted. A team with only one senior had won the program’s first PCAL division title.

The CCS play-in at Los Gatos brought the season to a close with an 18-3 loss — a stark reminder that there are still levels to reach. But for a team with one senior that won 13 of its last 14 games, the future had never been brighter.