The Palo Alto High School varsity girls’ lacrosse team (6-0, 3-0) continues to dominate the Santa Clara Valley Athletic League after defeating Menlo-Atherton High School, 16-5, on Tuesday at Paly.
Paly, who is currently ranked 25th in the state, according to MaxPreps.com, played a well-rounded, vocal game that featured goals by eight different players.
The game was characterized by Paly’s efforts to adjust to Menlo-Atherton’s zone defense, a different strategy from what the Vikings are used to dealing with, according to senior attacker Mari Wilson.
“Most teams that we play don’t set up an attack or a defense the way that they did,” Wilson said. “Our coach taught us quickly on the sidelines how to defend against stack and what they were setting up, and we learned on our feet.”
“M-A played a zone defense and they kind of let us bring the ball up in transition and then tried to block our fast breaks,” head coach Jen Gray added. “We’re usually a fast break team, so I think we did really well adjusting to that and making tiny changes on the field to take advantage of what we could.”
The Vikings got off to an early lead by scoring three goals–-two by freshman attacker Charlotte Biffar and one by senior midfielder Maya Fielder–-in the first three minutes of play.
After M-A followed with a goal of its own, sophomore attacker Emy Kelty scored to put Paly ahead, 4-1. M-A soon scored again to narrow the gap at 4-2.
The Vikings quickly adapted to the M-A defense and exploded to score five more goals in the half. Junior attacker Emily Benatar, sophomore midfielder Kimmie Flather and senior attacker Emily Fowler each contributed goals, while Biffar scored her third of the night. Senior attacker Brianna Boyd scored a theatrical goal when she slyly ran through the M-A defense and around the back of the goal to score from the left side.
Before the end of the first half, M-A scored two more goals, bringing the score to 9-4, Paly.
The Vikings continued to dominate in the second half, scoring seven more goals while only allowing one from Menlo-Atherton. Fielder, Benatar, Fowler and Flather each scored their second goals of the evening, while Biffar scored her fourth. Senior attacker Lauren Mah also contributed a clean goal.
M-A came back to score with four minutes left on the clock, prompting Kelty to counter with her second goal of the night, establishing a 16-5 victory for Paly.
Despite the lopsided final score, Gray said the tough Menlo-Atherton defense kept the Vikings on their feet.
“Regardless of what the score was like, it never felt like the game was that big of a difference,” Gray said. “They were playing us hard the whole time. Every opportunity we got, they made us really work for, so the girls had to stay intense or they knew M-A would take advantage of it.”
Gray said that the tough M-A team exposed some weaknesses in the Paly defense.
“We started pressuring them from behind and picking up the pressure a little bit on defense and I think that helped us be able to anticipate when the challenge was coming, but it definitely pointed out some holes in our defense that we didn’t know were there,” Gray said.
Gray said that the challenges of Menlo-Atherton’s zone defense helped force Paly to focus on its communication.
“M-A did a really good job challenging around the crease and really kind of muddling up our defense and then taking advantage of the confusion,” Gray said. “Because we’ve had some games that have not been quite as intense, our communication was a lot quieter, so this was a really good wake-up call for us in terms of needing to be always talking and always working and always aware of where the dangerous player is on the field.”
Junior midfielder Manuela Richter said she was impressed with the way the Vikings were able to adapt to Menlo-Atherton’s defense.
“They [Menlo-Atherton] had a very unique style and they had lots of plays,” Richter said. “What I think this team is really good at is adapting to it and then we’re really good at taking their strategies and using them against them.”
Richter said that Paly did a good job staying in control of the game.
“I think we kept it pretty controlled,” Richter said. “We kept it calm even when the other girls were really aggressive and trying to push us.”
The varsity team will play its next game against Los Gatos High School at 4 p.m. on Friday at Paly.