The Cate girls took sole possession of first place in the Channel League with a 7-5 win over San Marcos Thursday in Carpinteria, avenging the Rams’ only league loss of the season.
With a possession-oriented offense, Cate took a 3-0 lead 10 minutes into the game.
“They executed that game plan really well and for the most part stuck to it,” said San Marcos coach Paul Ramsey.
The Royals outscored Cate 5-4 the rest of the way, and had a few chances to narrow it to a one-goal game, but couldn’t capitalize.
“Completely a defensive game today, and they played some defense with their offense not letting us have the ball and it worked,” Ramsey said. “We knew it was coming, and while we did a nice job defending, holding them to seven goals, we needed to hold onto the ball more ourselves to counter their strategy.”
Gigi Crier, Lucy Guilbert-Neal and Ellie Tunnel scored two goals apiece for Cate. For the Royals, junior Mia Martinez-Tomatis and senior KC Springer had two goals apiece. Junior Jaymi Springer had two assists for San Marcos. Junior Megan Taylor had 13 saves for San Marcos.
Cate improved to 7-3 overall and 7-1 in Channel League. San dropped to 9-6 and 5-3. Dos Pueblos is 5-2 in league play with a win Thursday. A San Marcos win over Cate would have created a logjam at the top of the standings.
The Rams finish their season with games next week on Monday against Nordhoff and Wednesday with rival Thacher. San Marcos plays Thacher on Monday and rival Santa Barbara on Wednesday.
Dos Pueblos 18, Thacher 17
Avery Ball tied the county record for most goals in a lacrosse game Thursday with 10 — and each one was needed in an 18-17 Channel League win over Thacher.
Lauren Elliott set a school and county record with 16 draw controls after coming back from an injury.
Reagan Arnold scored five goals for the Chargers, Alice Sperling had two and Elliott contributed a goal and five assists.
With the win, the Chargers are 5-2 in conference play, behind 7-1 Cate and a half-game ahead of 5-3 San Marcos. The Chargers are 7-6 overall.
Santa Barbara 13, Nordhoff 3
The Dons won their second Channel League game, with a decisive win over Nordhoff.
Daisy Foreman — playing with a broken arm — scored six goals for Santa Barbara. Abigail Gaston, Emma Hall, Bridget Blinderman had two goals apiece, and Eleanor Mangone had one.
“So proud of how they all played,” Santa Barbara coach Elayne Blessing said. “Great passes up field and team connectivity!”