LJ g lax - Recap

By Ed Piper

There was a light air around the Vikings girls lacrosse team before the game.

We're coming out of COVID, so nobody was wearing a mask, for the most part. That helps the mood.

But another thing is that, here in the Open Division quarterfinals, la creme de la creme, teams know how good they are.

Yes, La Jolla got mercy-ruled by visiting Foothill (Santa Ana) a week ago, though it didn't show up in the box score. The Foothillers led 8-0 or so in the first few minutes of their "friendly". The visiting fans and staff treated it all like that's what they expected.

But having found their ceiling, LJHS coaches Kitty Cullen and Sam Farrell and their crew know they also stand high atop San Diego Section lacrosse with only a very few other local teams. Helen Lee, a 2016 LJHS grad, was on the sidelines Thursday night, May 27, and she must have been struck by the ascent the program has experienced since her era on the team.

Stella Wineman, taking faceoffs, and Jorie MacDonald, up behind the opposing net, among others took it right to visiting La Costa Canyon from the starting whistle.

The Mavs weren't ready for the onslaught. After each of the first three goals by their opponents, the defenders on the team would congregate in front of the goal trying to figure out whether to keep doing what they were doing, or smile. What they were doing wasn't working.

Finally, LCC won a faceoff and took the ball--briefly--into their attacking half of the rectangle. But not for long. A turnover brought it right back into La Jolla's wheelhouse, their relentless forward march toward the Mav goal.

The brief pause in seemingly automatic scores by the hosts was only paused for the time it took for LCC to win the faceoff and temporarily go toward the Edwards Stadium scoreboard. Everything immediately reverted to score-after-score when the Viking offense, led by Wineman and others at midfield, returned to the area in front of LCC's goal and pounded in five more bang-bang-bang goals.

8-0, La Jolla, 11 minutes left in the (25-minute) first half.

The hosts obviously let up in the second half. With halftime reading 13-3, the letup had already begun. La Jolla only forced in four more goals the rest of the way for a 17-7 quarterfinal win.

Cullen and Farrell's troops play in the semifinals Tues., June 1. The Vikes will be at home to host Torrey Pines, a 12-5 winner over Patrick Henry. La Jolla is the number two seed, Torrey Pines number three.