San Marcos girls lacrosse went on the road and pulled off a 15-14 upset win over Los Alamitos in the opening round of the CIF-SS Div. 2 playoffs on Tuesday in Los Alamitos.
The Royals found themselves trailing 12-8 late in the third quarter, but they rallied to outscore the Griffins 7-2 down the stretch to pull out the clutch win and keep their season alive.
Victoria Aldana drilled the game-winning goal on a penalty shot with just seven seconds remaining in the game.
“I’m super impressed with our poise under pressure down four against a good team in a D2 playoff game,” San Marcos head coach Paul Ramsey said.
San Marcos will remain on the road for the second round, taking on El Segundo on Thursday at 5 p.m.
The Royals fell behind in the early stages as Los Alamitos’ Amalia Berthon dominated the draws for the majority of the first half.
“That was a draw clinic by Amalia, but we kept rotating Vic (Aldana) and Josephine (Grossman) against her and they battled for it,” Ramsey said. “We won just enough draws at the end to get back into the game.”
Grossman led the San Marcos offensive attack with seven goals, the first of which set the new program record for all-time scoring. Her seventh goal of the night brought the record to 129 career goals.
Meanwhile, Aldana did it all with six goals and six assists in an offensive showing in which 11 of 15 goals were assisted. Mia Richmond added three assists, while Lyle Dessouky finished with two goals and one assist.
On the defensive end, Carly Grant collected 12 saves to keep the Royals in the game.
Dos Pueblos 8, Downey 6 (Div. 3)
The Chargers earned a back-and-forth win over Downey in the first round of the CIF-SS Div. 3 playoffs on Tuesday at Scott O’Leary Stadium in Goleta.
Dos Pueblos will now hit the road to take on No. 1 seed Santiago on Thursday in Corona.
The Chargers got out to a hot start as Linne Clapinski scored twice and Natasha Huie found the back of the net to take a 3-1 lead at the end of the first quarter.
Clapinski opened the second with her 100th goal of the season, but Downey stormed back with four unanswered goals to go up 5-4 heading into halftime.
The Dos Pueblos defense then took over in the third, holding Downey scoreless while Clapinski and Emily Anton each scored to put the Chargers up 6-5 with one quarter to play.
The Chargers continued to limit the Downey offense in the fourth, and Clpainksi and Elsa Terebessy scored to bring the game to its final score of 8-6.
Stella Lawler was the backbone of the strong defensive showing, ending the night with 12 saves.
“I am super proud of how our team played today and very happy about how we responded after going down a goal in the second quarter,” Dos Pueblos head coach Dan Feldhaus said.
“At halftime, we basically took a deep breath and refocused our defensive effort, and we only allowed one goal in the entire second half. Stella Lawler and the entire defense really stepped and played well.”
Cate 12, Martin Luther King 8 (Div. 3)
The Rams opened their playoff run with a victory over Martin Luther King High on Tuesday in Carpinteria.
Cate will now hit the road and take on Great Oak on Thursday in Temecula.
The Rams built up a two-goal lead by the end of the first quarter and never led by less for the rest of the game, cruising to the win.
Maia Holmes and Lorelei Roof led a strong defensive effort, while the midfielding trio of Claire Bianchi, Lauren Hubbs and Carmen Lack dictated the flow of the game.
On the attack, Harper Halbardier, Jasper Shelmerdine and Sofi Ridgeway were in the middle of the action for the Rams.
Holmes poured in four goals to lead the Cate offense, while Hubbs, Bianchi and Lack all scored twice. Posi Hexner and Ridgeway rounded out the scoring with two goals apiece, while Chelsea Newlove tallied nine saves.