The Palo Alto High School Girls’ lacrosse team (17-3) finished the season as both Central Coast Section Division II and Santa Clara Valley Athletic League champions, defeating Stevenson High School, 10-9, on May 16th at Menlo-Atherton High School. This is the team’s first ever CCS championship title.

Sophomore Zara Mathoda said winning CCS is a historic accomplishment for the team. 

“This CCS title has been a huge accomplishment for our program’s history, putting us back on the board for the first time in a while,” Mathoda said. “It’s been a bit since Paly girls’ lacrosse has succeeded in something like this.”

According to Singh, an improvement in coaching was what made a difference. 

“We just had better coaching this year,” Singh said. “We had two assistant coaches [in previous years] instead of our head coach [leading the way], and I think she really helped each player develop better. In previous years, our coaching has just relied on a couple players to do well and that’s not really how you get wins.”

Mathoda said the Vikings had to deal with moments that tested their focus, like dealing with bad calls from referees.

“A huge challenge we experienced this year was keeping our composure in difficult moments,” Mathoda said. “There were certain games and referees that definitely challenged our calmness but our overcoming of that was one of our key strengths.”

According to senior Meera Singh, clinging to that narrow lead against Stevenson High School was the highlight of the season.

“When we played Stevenson for the final CCS game, we were only up by one, so [the moment] we won, we were all running towards the goalie,” Singh said. “That was a really memorable moment.”

Mathoda said the team will continue to train in the off-season. 

“The off-season looks different for a lot of players based on exactly what lacrosse is to them,” Mathoda said. “For players, like me, who participate in club season, we’ll be continuing to improve our game in tournaments and practices so we can come back even stronger than before.”

Seven seniors from the girls’ lacrosse team will graduate, including senior Division 1 recruit Natalie Dymmel.

According to Singh, the team will still be competitive next year. 

“They [next year’s team] will be pretty strong,” Singh said. “We have some really good underclassmen, and our juniors will be really good leaders next year too. I have high hopes for them.”