Eight different players scored for the Dos Pueblos High girls lacrosse team, led by junior Avery Ball’s six goals, en route to a dominanting 15-5 win by the Chargers over crosstown rival San Marcos at Scott O’Leary Stadium on Thursday night.
With the win, Dos Pueblos improved to 14-1 overall with a perfect 6-0 mark in Channel League play. San Marcos fell to 10-4 overall with a 4-1 league mark, with a chance at revenge next Friday against DP at Warkentin Stadium.
“We both went in wanting it really bad because we are both undefeated,” DP coach Sam Limkeman told Noozhawk after the game.
“We didn’t know what to expect. We’ve had a few games this season where we’re down at the half when we get hyped, but we were determined to not have that be the case today, and it wasn’t today.”
Ball added an assist to her stat sheet as well.
“We all just came together as a team today,” Ball said after the game.
“SM being one of our biggest rivals, we were just ready. We were ready for this game, we were pumped up and, especially having such a great season coming into this being undefeated in the league, that really gave us the confidence to play our best. We worked as a team and we played together and we did the best that we could.”
Eloise Shea and Lauren Elliot each pitched in two goals while Hannah Martin, Autumn Litten, Mia Termond, Caitlin Duncan and Miranda Hough-Pattinson each added one in the even scoring effort.
Defensively, junior goalkeeper Madeline Nees was outstanding in net, picking up 10 saves, including earning her 100th save of the season Thursday night.
San Marcos was led offensively by Ellie Monson, who tallied a hat trick. KC Springer and Sofia Martinez-Tomatis each added a goal apiece for the Royals.
Royals head coach Paul Ramsey told Noozhawk that DP fast pace really made the difference for them.
“They were playing really quickly with the ball and moving off ball, so when we would go to double (team), we were out of position. Basically, they dodged hard from the top really well and finished,” Ramsey said.
Dos Pueblos has become accustomed to making comebacks in the second half. In an earlier match this week against Cate School, the Chargers were down 6-5 at half before ultimately winning the contest 15-7.
That wasn’t the case Thursday, as the team got off to a great start, leading 4-0 early.
“I knew we could do it, but I didn’t know we would based on some history. We generally are a second-half team and I told the girls apart from this particular game we couldn’t be. They were really on fire all the time,” Limkeman said.
San Marcos would score two goals to cut the deficit to two, but Dos Pueblos would end the half on another 6-0 scoring run to take a dominant 10-2 lead into the break.
Coming out of the half, DP would not slow down, scoring two goals within the first two minutes to take a 10-point lead.
Monson would score at the 19:23 mark to cut it to nine. She had an opportunity to cut it to eight, but a great save from Nees would not let that happen.
Both teams would trade goals until Ball scored with 5:48 left, essentially icing the contest, to give DP a 15-4 lead.
“Our girls, we really prioritize family atmosphere and supporting each other and affirming each other. And I really believe that the key to a lot of our success is these girls building each other up,” Limkeman said.
“If you look at our stats, we’ve got eight different scores, so even though Avery is the leader, we are just all over the map when you look at this as far as who’s contributing. I think we built in like that. That’s a big deal to us.”
The final goal would come from Martinez-Tomatis at the 4:30 mark.
“That was not the result we wanted but I really liked the way we made some adjustments and kept playing,” Ramsey said. “We played much better in the second half and we’re going to build on that.”
Ball, who is committed to playing lacrosse at Messiah University in Pennsylvania, said a lot of her motivation comes from her parents, especially her father who she called “her main motivator.”
She also attributes her consistent goal scoring to a great team effort.
“It’s a really great feeling because I can’t do it without this team,” Ball said about her six-goal performance.
“Nothing is done without the help of my teammates. It wasn’t my goal. Like even though I scored it, that was for the team and that’s my motivation to get those goals and to do the best that I can.”