The Palo Alto High School girls’ lacrosse (5-4,4-1) team lost, 20-15, in a toughly contested game against Sacred Heart Preparatory High School (7-3,4-0) in a non-league game Wednesday at Palo Alto High School.

Paly got on the scoreboard first with a goal early in the first half from junior Allie Peery.  This was first of her five goals of the night.  SHP struck back with three straight goals all coming in under two minutes after the first goal was scored.  With less than ten minutes left in the first half, SHP led , 8-4.  The Vikings, however, mounted a comeback, and brought the score to 8-7 by the end of the half, with goals from seniors Kristen Destefano and Ami Drez and sophomore Maya Benatar.

The Vikings came out of halftime hot with two quick goals from junior Paige Bara and another from Drez to give them a 9-8 advantage.  SHP proceeded to go on a six to three run to push their lead to 15-12. Benatar put in a goal with 11 minutes left in the game to cut the lead to two, but SHP was too strong for the Vikings down the stretch. SHP pulled away to a 18-14 lead with  three minutes left in the game. Bara added another goal near the end of the game to make the final 20-15.

Destefano praised her team’s effort in the closely fought game.

“I think we played one of our best games tonight even though we lost,” Destefano  said.

The Vikings’ next matchup will be at 4 p.m. Friday evening at Palo Alto High School against Mountain View High School