The Palo Alto High School Vikings girls’ lacrosse team (10-3) shot up to first place in the Santa Clara Valley Athletic League on Wednesday night after defeating the Gunn High School Titans 9-8.
This win comes after the Vikings fell to the Titans (9-5) by one point earlier in the season. With only three league games remaining against Los Gatos, Mountain View and Wilcox, the Vikings are well-positioned to claim the league title.
The key goal came one minute into overtime when Paly freshman Nova Westin drove past the Titans’ defense and fired a quick shot into the net, sealing the Vikings’ 9-8 win and igniting the home crowd.
According to Viking senior Roni Horovitz, the Vikings had extra motivation.
“We just really wanted to win, especially against Gunn,” Horovitz said. “It’s our rival team, and we haven’t beat them in lacrosse in a while. We all came out with a lot of energy, ready to win.”
The Vikings started the game quickly with Viking freshman Hanna Karsner running through the Titan’s defense and scoring a goal within minutes. Westin followed this up with two goals in a row, extending the lead to 3-0.
In the second quarter, the Titans came in looking to come back, scoring their first goal as a pass finds an open player in front the net, bumping the score up to 3-1. Throughout the quarter, the Vikings struggled to defend and keep the ball, giving the Titans the opportunity to score three more goals, which made the score 3-4. The Vikings responded with a goal from Karsner who finished a pass after getting open, ending the quarter with a tie.
Vikings senior Keerthi Raj said she felt the team did a good job at communicating during the 2nd half.
“We played really well, our communication was really good and we were trusting each other a lot, especially on the attack,” Raj said. “We played with a lot of confidence in comparison to the first half.”
In the third quarter, both teams’ defenses were strong. The Titans got the first goal in the quarter, putting them ahead, 4-5. Then the Titans scored again after a foul, bringing the score to 4-6 at the end of the third quarter.
In the fourth quarter, the Vikings opened with a goal from Westin, making the score 5-6. Then, another goal from Viking senior Natalie Dymmel tied the score at 6-6. With both teams scrambling for a goal to win in the last quarter, the Titans found a goal after a quick dash through defenders, putting them ahead, 6-7. The Vikings managed to get a goal through an inside pass to Westin, 7-7. With minutes left of the game, Karsner scored on a drive, putting the score at 8-7. The Titans then scored, after a foul, tying the goal at 8-8 and pushing the game into overtime.
According to Viking head coach Kaitlin Chiu, the Vikings knew how having a good mindset would be important.
“From the beginning, we knew that it was going to be a tough game, so we really prepared to have a tough mental game,” Chiu said.
The Vikings need to defeat the Los Gatos High School Wildcats (5-8) 7 p.m. Monday at Los Gatos High School to stay first in the Santa Clara Valley Athletic League.
