VISTA -- With the temperature climbing near the 100-degree mark, La Costa Canyon High field hockey coach Kim Elmore tried everything she could think of to find a spark that would light a fire under her Mavericks.

She yelled, she encouraged and she substituted freely.

Little worked as the three-time CIF San Diego Section Division I champions fell to Rancho Buena Vista 2-1 in a nonleague contest.

"We have good players, but we're young and we're not really together yet," Elmore said. "We have a great big target on us. We get everyone's best game.

"So we need to bring a little more intensity."

While the Mavericks fell to 4-4, this wasn't really an upset.

Rancho Buena Vista (10-3) is ranked No. 4 in the county while La Costa Canyon is No. 6.

"La Costa Canyon is still La Costa Canyon," said Rancho Buena Vista coach Kaci Branson. "So beating them is huge.

"I've been here five years, and this is the first time we've beaten them. So it's a huge win."

The Longhorns scored with 4 minutes, 36 seconds to play in the first half when Ally Arcibal beat LCC goalie Molly Cassidy with a penalty shot to the upper left-hand corner of the net.

The Longhorns then weathered an LCC rally at the end of the half as the Mavericks missed on two scoring chances.

Meredith Adams tied it for LCC off an assist from Annie Lovell at the 24:12 mark of the second half, but RBV answered two minutes later when Marissa Scales scored off an assist from Marissa Hughes.

Again at the end of the game RBV withstood an LCC rally as Kristen Sondag's shot at the buzzer went just wide.

RBV played smothering defense as LCC got just seven shots on goal.

"La Costa Canyon has a great team," said RBV defender Amanda Marinac, who had an ice pack on a swollen and sore right ankle after taking a shot off that ankle in the closing seconds of the match.

"So yes, we gave it a little extra effort. We knew they'd come out strong. They always do. But we've been playing great. We were ready for the challenge."

Asked about the heat, Marinac as adamant with her response.

"Oh my gosh," she said. "It was the hottest I've ever been. At times I didn't think I could go on, but I pushed through it. We all did.

"This team has come a long way. We play together. We give 100 percent all the time."

RBV outshot the Mavericks 14-7.

Cassidy, who is headed to Michigan State, had eight saves, several at point-blank range. RBV goalie Lydia Zbed had three saves.

"Molly is just unbelievable in the net," Elmore said. "They kept the pressure on and Molly was great.

"We had our chances, but we didn't finish. We had a lot of shots go wide and that doesn't work.

"The team that puts the most balls in the net wins. That wasn't us today."

Staff writer John Maffei can be reached at (760) 740-3547 or jmaffei@nctimes.com.