DENVER | The Regis Jesuit boys lacrosse team’s bid to play for the Class 5A state championship for the first time since 2018 came to an end with a 13-7 loss to Valor Christian Saturday evening.
The third-seeded Raiders aimed to avenge a defeat to the second-seeded Eagles from the regular season, but fell into an early hole and couldn’t climb all the way out of it in a semifinal contest played at Peter Barton Stadium on the campus of the University of Denver.
Coach Jim Soran’s Regis Jesuit team finished the season 15-3 and two of those losses came to Valor Christian, which moved into Monday night’s 5A state championship game against No. 5 Mountain Vista, which pulled off a 12-11 overtime upset of top-seeded Cherry Creek in the other semifinal.
Senior Mattie Cain tallied three goals, junior Jamie Rosenzweig scored a pair of goals and senior Fletcher Sullivan had a goal and two assists for the Raiders.
Regis Jesuit — which came off a bye in the opening round to defeat Cherokee Trail and Kent Denver — trailed just 2-0 going into the final minute of the first quarter, but ceded two goals in the final eight seconds of the period as the deficit doubled.
It was an 8-0 hole when Cain scored the Raiders’ first goal with 5:26 left in the opening half. Regis Jesuit’s deficit reached double digits in the second half before it scored several late goals.
Courtney Oakes is Sentinel Colorado Sports Editor. Reach him at sports@sentinelcolorado.com. Twitter: @aurorasports. IG: Sentinel Prep Sports
2023 CLASS 5A BOYS LACROSSE STATE SEMIFINALS
May 20 at Peter Barton Stadium (Univ. of Denver)
(2) VALOR CHRISTIAN 13, (3) REGIS JESUIT 7
Score by quarters:
Regis Jesuit 0 2 2 3 — 7
Valor Christian 4 7 1 1 — 13
Regis Jesuit goals: Mattie Cain 3, Jamie Rosenzweig 2, Ethan Beucking, Fletcher Sullivan. Valor Christian goals: Blake Benton 3, Liam Goodwin 3, Baden Brown 2, Blake Ham, James Hamilton, Blake Kirschke, Rush LaSelle, Harry Luong. Regis Jesuit assists: Fletcher 2. Valor Christian assists: Brown 3, Troy Altman