San Marcos roared out to a 10-0 lead and beat Santa Barbara High 15-3 in a girls crosstown lacrosse game on Thursday at Warkentin Stadium.
Senior Simone Stone started the scoring for the Royals 27 seconds into the game when she assisted senior Aubrey Sturgeon.
The Royal defense stymied Santa Barbara and the offense scored five unanswered goals in the first 5:09 of the game. San Marcos went to a ball-control offense on the way to five more unanswered goals before the half.
Sadie Levental scored two goals and Jackie Estrada had one for Santa Barbara in the second half.
“It is always tough to lose to your cross town rivals but this amazing group of young ladies stays positive, and I could not ask for more,” said Santa Barbara coach Elayne Blessing. “As we walked off field, you could hear players talk about how we are coming together, trusting each other with passes more and more and our amazing defensive stops we had.”
The Dons played without Alannah Cetti, who suffered a concussion on Tuesday.
Blessing praised the play of Gelsey Ruiz, freshman Charlotte Benett and senior Alyssa Rodriguez.
San Marcos coach Paul Ramsey credited his goalies for playing good games. Junior goalie Adriana Espiritu Morales started for the Royals and shut out the Dons. Freshman goalie Ayleen Rios played the second half and made three saves.
Next up, San Marcos plays Saugus in the Gold Coast Invitational on Saturday.
Formerly called the Royals Rumble, the tournament is now co-hosted by Dos Pueblos and San Marcos.
Playing in the Gold Coast Invitational in Varsity, Junior Varsity and Frosh-Soph divisions are Dos Pueblos, Laguna Beach, Notre Dame, San Marcos, Santa Barbara, Santa Monica, Saugus, Simi Valley and West Ranch.
All information and the schedule of games are on the San Marcos Girls Lacrosse web site, smglax.com, under Gold Coast Invitational in the main menu. Games are in the stadiums at Dos Pueblos and San Marcos.
“We are aiming at a good showing this weekend in our tournament but did not want to relax at all against Santa Barbara,” said Ramsey about the cross-town game and the big tournament coming so soon afterward.