San Marcos took a 7-5 lead on Simone Stone’s goal with four minutes remaining in the first half on Wednesday but No. 18 Thousand Oaks took command by scoring five straight goals and went on to beat the visiting Royals 16-10 in a non-league girls lacrosse match.
The Lancers scored three goals in a span of 1:03 to take an 8-7 halftime lead. They tallied the first two goals of the second half to lead 10-7 just 12 minutes into the period.
The Lancers eventually led 13-9 with 8:22 left in the game and looked in control. Then with just under six minutes to play, San Marcos attacker Catherine McQueen passed to midfielder Ami Hammond on a nice opposite-post feed that Hammond buried to give the Royals their 10th goal.
“We were celebrating after Ami got that goal on that type of play,” said San Marcos head coach Paul Ramsey, “and had some life against a good team.”
Senior center Jessica Ritter won the draw to herself and got the Lancers back on offense. The home team scored at 2:45 to go up 14-10 and then when the Royals pressed out to make something happen, they scored again at :34 seconds and :16 seconds.
“The other team scored three goals in about a minute at the end of the first half and then three goals in about two minutes at the end of the game,” added Ramsey. “Hats off to them for that but those are the six goals that were the final difference.”
“We can learn from that because runs like those are what good teams do and what other good teams prevent.”
The Royals have scored at least 10 goals in every game this season and are averaging 12 goals per game. Sophomore goal keeper Adriana Espiritu Morales turned in another fine game with 11 saves while facing 28 shots on goal.