JON HELGASON/Arizona Daily Wildcat A LAxcat player drives past a Chapman player Saturday at Rincon Vista Field. The Laxcats won 16-8.

If the saying "defense wins championships" is true, the Laxcats should be in good shape to win the Western Collegiate Lacrosse League playoffs.

UA played tough defense all day in its 16-8 win over a high-scoring Chapman University attack unit Saturday.

UA (14-2, 6-0 WCLL) was able to keep the Panthers' offense under control for most of the game. With the hard-nosed play of junior defenseman Jeff Kinsella and sophomore defenseman Tom Wiley, the Laxcat defense held the WCLL goals leader, Daniel Metoyer, to zero points.

Freshman UA goalie Sean Koffel also played a huge role in the Laxcats' defensive performance with 11 saves in 15 shots on goal.

"(The defensive unit) played as hard as they could and we shut down the top goal-scorer in the league," head coach Adam Hopkins said. "That's what you need in the playoffs - tight defense and a hot goaltender."

"The key was our defense. They played unreal," senior attackman Jay Spatafora said. "Everyone was working together."

Spatafora also had a hand in the Laxcats' playoff win. He led all scorers with nine points, which brought his season total to 100 points for the year. Chapman was able to score the first goal of the game and gain their only lead of the contest early on.

Spatafora quickly evened up the game 1-1 on a fast-break goal after a Panther turnover. Off the ensuing face-off, Spatafora found junior midfielder Bryan Moore for the go-ahead goal and never trailed for the rest of the game. The Laxcats led 3-2 after a sloppy first quarter.

"We were all a little anxious and wanted to get it going after our loss last week," Spatafora said.

"They came out scrappy and we weren't really ready for that, but in the second quarter we got our blue-collar attitude back," Hopkins said.

The second quarter was the difference-maker for the Laxcats. UA outscored Chapman 5-1 and took an 8-3 lead into the half.

UA was able to lengthen its lead in the third quarter with 3 goals from junior attackman Charlie Mink.

Chapman mustered four fourth-quarter goals to close the scoring gap, but was never able to threaten the Laxcats.

"Overall, it was a really inspired performance," Hopkins said. "We have to just keep on getting better."

With the win, UA will travel to San Diego to play Stanford in the WCLL final four on Saturday. Stanford is coming off its own quarterfinal win, beating Cal Poly San Luis Obispo 19-5 in Palo Alto, Calif.