The Palo Alto High School boys’ lacrosse team (14-4-1) will face Menlo High School (11-4-2) for its last regular season game and will celebrate senior night at 7:30 p.m. Friday at the Paly lacrosse field.
The lacrosse team will look to continue its nine-game winning streak and start the Santa Clara Valley Athletic League playoffs strong.
Along with the celebration of the season’s ending, the Vikings will also celebrate their senior leaders who will graduate this year. Senior leaders include attackmen Benner Mullin and Manny Soto, middies Frank Fenwick and Peter Gold and face-off specialist Richard Islas.
With this being the last game of the regular season, the Vikings will need to work on their offense, defense and lasting endurance for SCVALs, as these were consistent issues throughout the season.
“Despite the fact that we are No.1 in the league, we still have a lot of things to work on before the season ends,” said Islas. “We start off our games strong, but we don’t finish with the same strength. It is important that carry that throughout the entire game.”
While the Vikings hold first place in the league, Menlo is a competitive school and they are likely to bring a competitive edge to the game tomorrow, according to head coach DJ Shelton.
“It’s going to be a good game because Menlo is a really, really good team this year,” Shelton said. “They’re competing really well in the West Catholic League, which is their first year in. We went and watched them as a team yesterday against Saint Ignatius High School, which is one of the best teams in the state. They didn’t do that well against them, but they are a solid team.”
Like in many sport teams, overconfidence is something that can pull a team down in a game. Shelton hopes that Menlo will come in overconfident and the Vikings will be able to take advantage of that.
“It is one of those situations where really good teams come into a situation a little head-strong, so hopefully they will come in a little over-confident and we can execute our game plan and have a really good game,” Shelton said. “It will definitely be competitive. They are a top team.”
The Vikings will play a to-be-announced team for the first round of SCVAL playoffs at 7:30 p.m. on Thursday on the Paly lacrosse field.