Clawing back: Cougars boys lacrosse team has risen to area dominance

It’s been a year since the loss.

On April 7, 2017, the Cardinal Mooney High boys lacrosse team fell 9-8 to Riverview High, in overtime, in the District 17 final. It was a loss that changed the program, both in the short term and long term. It ended the Cougars’ season sooner than they believe it should have, and it gave the returnees an increased motivation to do better in 2018.

What no one could have predicted, not even coach Derek Wagner, was what happened next.

The Cougars entered 2018 with high expectations, and started hot, but that was nothing new. Something else was, though: The cooldown that has plagued the team in the past (Cardinal Mooney started 2017 8-1 and finished 13-8) never came. The Cougars kept winning, culminating in a 16-11 win over back-to-back state champion St. Thomas Aquinas. Wagner called the victory the biggest in program history, bar none, and senior midfielder Eric Martin said the game is the best lacrosse moment of his career. It was significant not just because Cardinal Mooney beat a good team, but because they beat a good program, Wagner clarifies. Aquinas’ coach, Terry Crowley, is the sport’s all-time wins leader in Florida, at 422. The Cougars didn’t shy away from the challenge of facing such a program.

“None of these kids will ever forget that win,” Wagner said. “It shows how bad they want it.”

The wins kept coming. The Cougars ran their record to 15-0 and a spot atop the Tampa Lax Report’s rankings before they finally stumbled. A 12-6 road loss to Tampa Jesuit on April 11 put a blemish on the perfect record, but Wagner said part of him is glad the team lost.

Every team loses eventually, he said, and he’d rather have it happen in the regular season than the playoffs. It also helped with the team’s preparation. The loss to Jesuit came because the team wasn’t mentally ready to play, Wagner said, and it showed. That wasn’t a problem in the next match, a 16-5 win against Buchholz High to close out the regular season. The Cougars are now third in the Tampa Lax Report rankings, but also seventh in MaxPreps' state-wide rankings, and 43rd nationally. 

How does a 13-8 team become a 16-1 team in 12 months?

“It’s our refusal to accept the average,” Wagner said. “We get better every day, and we want to play the best. Beating a mid-level team is nice, but we want to do better than that.”

It’s depth, too. The Cougars have multiple weapons on offense, from Martin to junior MJ McMahon, junior Ryan Katchen and freshman Christian Laureano. Wagner also cited sophomore defenseman Luca Dominguez as doing a good job, but joked not to tell him that, as “he’ll never let you forget it.” Junior Alec Frank has been ace on faceoffs for the Cougars as well, and Wagner praised his entire senior class for filling spots that don’t get as much glory on the back end, but are just as important.

Now it’s time for the playoffs, where past Cougars teams have faltered. The program has never advanced past the regional semifinals. The team got off to a good start in getting back there, dismantling Saint Stephen’s Episcopal 18-2 on April 7 in the District 17 semifinals, but now waits for Riverview, the team that eliminated the Cougars a year ago, in the district final once again. Cardinal Mooney has beaten the Rams twice this season, but that was the regular season. The stakes are higher now. 

If this Cougars team is different, the area will soon find out.