Team loses in first round of playoffs; finishes season strong

The girls’ lacrosse team ended its season with a 16-10 first-round loss to top-ranked Palo Alto in Santa Clara Valley Athletic (SCVAL) playoffs on May 13.

The Falcons’ final season record was 6-7.  

Due to the small numbers of girls’ lacrosse teams in the area, SCVAL playoffs are the same as CCS playoffs. There are seven total teams in the Central Coast Section League. Going into playoffs, Saratoga was the No. 4 seeded team.

Playing at Palo Alto, the Falcons fought a tough match but fell behind 9-0 in the first half. In the second half, the team came back with the 10 goals but was ultimately unable to catch up. Junior midfielder Erin Norris led the team with three goals, and both junior forward Talia Clement and sophomore defender Julia Vita scored twice.

A highlight of the season for the team was a key 13-12 last victory over Leland High School on May 5. Even though the Falcons were down by eight at halftime, they were able to make a huge comeback in the second half, outscoring their opponents eight goals to one in the second half to tie the game 12-12.

In the last 30 seconds of regulation, Leland had a breakaway to goal. The Leland player scored, but the goal did not count because junior Nicole Prowse got called for shooting space, where she stood in the shooting lane of the oncoming attacker. The Leland player then missed her penalty shot and time ended, sending the game into overtime.

“I kept repeating to myself to stay calm, as all of us defenders were under enormous pressure when one player was shooting on goal,” Prowse said.

After two overtimes, each consisting of two 3-minute halves, the teams were still deadlocked at 12-12. Two sudden death periods were then played, each three minutes long. In the third sudden death, senior forward Jane Park scored the winning goal, leading Saratoga to victory with a score of 13-12.

This win was crucial for the team’s success because it determined whether or not the Falcons would advance into playoffs.

Because the two coaches, Coach Danny Wallace and Coach Krista Cavanaugh, and a majority of the players were new this season, the girls are surprised that they were able to make finals as one of the top four teams in the league.

Although the girls had a rough start to the season, the Falcons were able to make a comeback. Just as the team made fought back the second half of the game against Leland, the team made a major comeback in the second half of the season, where they won games against Mountain View, Pioneer and Los Gatos.

“As shown by our games, we are definitely a second half team. We played our hardest every game, and I am very proud that such a new team was able to make it to CCS finals,” senior midfielder Christina Chin said.