The Palo Alto Boys’ Lacrosse team (13-5) shut down the Palma High School Chieftains (9-7), 5-1, in the first round of the Division II Central Coast Section playoffs, Tuesday night at home.
After a successful regular season in which they went 9-1 in league play, finishing in second place, the Vikings were awarded with the fourth seed in the CCS Division II Playoffs. This granted them the opportunity to have one last home game against the Palma Chieftains, whom they had previously defeated in the regular season.
According to Viking head coach Ed Hattler, Viking junior goalie Miles Joing and Viking junior Richie Zhang contributed a lot to the Vikings’ victory.
“Our goalie Miles saved 10 out of 11 shots, so he was phenomenal,” Hattler said. “Richie Zhang was beating his man all night. We had several opportunities that we didn’t finish, but he got us on the board, and got that lead. Those two guys were crucial.”
The first quarter was headlined by numerous defensive stops by both teams, including multiple impressive saves from Joing. Fortunately for the Vikings, Zhang was able to score the first goal of the game with 11 seconds left in the quarter on a spin-move directly in front of the Chieftains goal, shaking the defender for an impressive goal.
Chieftain junior Wyatt Deverick said the Chieftains struggled to make shots from the perimeter.
“We were pretty aggressive, but shooting, we just weren’t on cage honestly,” Deverick said. “Then when we were, the goalie was pretty solid.”
The Vikings’ defensive dominance led by Joing didn’t let up in the second quarter either, keeping the Chieftains from gaining momentum. Zhang was able to find the opponent’s net once again for his second goal of the game off a flashy assist from senior Shalin Dwivedi. This gave the Vikings a 2-0 lead at halftime.
According to Joing, the Vikings played well on both ends of the field.
“Defensively, we did pretty well not letting them dodge on us and get too many shots from inside,” Joing said. “We didn’t let them get any shots from in close. Then on offense, we did a good job like dodging around them and exposing their their defense.”
In the third quarter, Viking junior Kane Do scored, extending the Vikings’ lead to 3-0.
Soon after, Zhang completed his hat trick, scoring a third goal after scooping up the ball when a Chieftain defender dropped it. Zhang sprinted downhill, weaving between three opposing defenders, scoring the Vikings’ fourth goal of the game. The Chieftains finally broke through the Vikings’ defense and got on the board, closing the deficit to 4-1.
However, the Chieftains’ hopes for a comeback were futile. Viking senior Dwivedi scored the last goal of the game on a seconds before the final buzzer.
Dwivedi said he went for a late-game opportunity after initially trying to run the clock.
“It was the end of the game and we were just supposed to be holding the ball and running the clock out,” Dwivedi said. “I made a couple guys miss, and it was a really rough game between the two of us, and I got really hyped up and was like, why not just go for the goal? Then I saw the opportunity, I went and scored, waved him goodbye. I just had to do it to them.”
Hattler said the Chieftains have been impacted by injuries.
“Palma in that scrimmage had this kid named Eli Dukes, who’s the best athlete we’ve seen all season,” Hattler said. He is a d1 football recruit, and he was injured and not able to play today. They also lost their face-off guy. We lost Lucas Grodnitzky early in the season, but I think their injuries were more significant.”
The Vikings will play the number one seed, the Stevenson High School Pirates (7-9), 3:30 p.m. Thursday at Stevenson High School.
