After falling behind 2-0 in the first four minutes, the San Marcos High girls lacrosse team battled back to tie the score but could never get the lead in a 12-10 loss at unbeaten Valencia.
The Royals (1-1) tied it 2-2 on a pair of goals by junior Simone Stone but the Vikings (3-0) regained the upper hand by halftime, 5-3. Valencia extended the margin to four goals at 8-4 in the second half.
“That actually fired us up,” said coach Paul Ramsey. “With some pressure on the ball and double teaming, our defense kept giving the offense opportunities and it paid off. Sophomore goal keeper Adriana Espiritu Morales had 6 of her 11 saves in the second half and it was defense and goal-tending that us in the game.
“Adriana was standing on her head the last ten minutes. She made four straight point-blank stops on their last four shots. Everyone showed a lot of fire the whole game it was great to see us compete against an undefeated team.”
Senior Emma Beifuss led the Royals with three goals. Stone, Catherine McQueen and sophomore Kenddal Egan all scored two goals.