Following their first victory of the season, the Palo Alto High School girls’ varsity lacrosse team faced off against neighboring Castilleja Tuesday afternoon, but was unable to get its second victory, losing the match, 7-4.

“We could’ve done some things better, but overall we played hard,” sophomore Brianna Boyd said.

Castilleja outmatched the Vikings throughout most of the game; with the Gators starting off with an early lead. Paly’s late comeback effort was not enough to put the Vinkings back in the game.

The Gators won the opening face-off and on their first possession freshmen Stephanie Merenbach scored. Paly came in with a stall tactic and executed it well, wasting several minutes at a time.

“Our game plan was possession of the ball,” senior Kati Dahm said. “But we just held onto the ball too much and didn’t take as many risks when it came to shooting.”

Paly’s defense had several outstanding moments, and junior goalie Anna Bastidas also had several key saves. Eventually the Gators got one past and scored their second goal of the game, giving them a 2-0 lead.

The Vikings’ tough defense gave them an opportunity to get back in the game. Paly was able to take advantage when sophomore Emily Fowler scored the Viking’s first goal of the game.

Just as Paly was gaining some momentum the Gators scored their third goal of the game and Merenbach’s second to close out the half.

It was evident that the Gators were not going to let up as they came out with a lot of energy, scoring in the first minutes of the new half by Marion Cohn.

Castilleja would go on to another 3-1 run. Kati Dahm scored Paly’s one goal on a quick backhand shot.

“They [Castilleja] really came out with a lot of intensity and outplayed us early in the second half,” Dahm said.

With strong team play and good offensive execution Paly opened up some new opportunities. The Vikings were down, 6-2, when Boyd saw some action on the offensive side when she was moved to attack. Soon after, she was able to score back-to-back goals to give them a fighting chance.

Following the game, Dahm said, “One of the keys to the loss was that early in the game we just played too passively on offense and didn’t get as many goals as we should have.”

It was too little too late as the Gators scored one final goal to put the game out of reach and take home the victory.

“I think the game went well, but it definitely highlighted a lot of things we need to work on as the season goes on,” Dahm said.