Paly’s varsity girls’ lacrosse team is on a three-game winning streak following its 18-5 victory against the Mercy-Burlingame Crusader Rabbits on Friday.

After a difficult start, the Vikings pulled ahead and scored goal after goal, cementing their status as a strong offensive team in the league.

“We came out not really expecting Burlingame to play as hard as they did,” coach Jen Gray said. “At the end of the game they [Paly] pulled it out and they did what they needed to do to win.”

Mercy landed the first goal off of a foul shot from the 8-meter arc.

However, the Vikings evened the score when junior Mari Wilson grabbed a ground ball and passed to freshman Kimmie Flather from behind the net. Flather quickly scored the first Paly goal, bringing the score to 1-1.

In the next two minutes, senior Kirsten Atkinson charged up the field and scored Paly’s second goal. In the scuffle following the draw, Mercy’s No.2 seized control and shot successfully, bringing the score to 2-2.

For several minutes, the Vikings trapped the ball in Mercy’s half of the field but were unable to evade the defenders.

According to sophomore Emily Benatar, Paly’s difficulty scoring was caused by inattentiveness.

“We were playing sloppy,” Benatar said. “We weren’t concentrating on our catches and throws. We were rushing in to try and score instead of settling it.”

Finally, junior Lauren Mah dodged a Mercy player, made an impressive leap in the air and scored Paly’s third goal.

The Vikings continued to beat back the Crusader Rabbits as juniors Maya Fielder, Brianna Boyd and Emily Fowler scored in quick succession. When the first half ended, the Vikings had brought the score to 6-2.

Paly started the second half aggressively. After a brief tussle over a ground ball, Benatar passed to senior co-captain Caroline Lucas-Conwell from behind the goal. Lucas-Conwell dodged the goalie and scored Paly’s seventh goal.

Mercy #1 made a foul shot from the 8-meter arc, breaking the Paly scoring streak and bringing the score to 7-3. Flather retaliated with an unsuccessful attempt on goal. She passed to Fowler, who made her second goal of the game and brought the score to 8-3.

Shortly after, Lucas-Conwell lobbed the ball over the goalie’s head and scored for the second time. After a brief Mercy offensive, sophomore Hannah Ohlson sprinted the ball up the field and passed to Atkinson. Atkinson assisted Flather in her second goal, bringing the score to 10-3.

The Crusader Rabbits slammed past the Paly defense and Mercy scored on a practically open goal, bringing the score to 10-4.

Minutes later, Benatar claimed Paly’s 11th goal. However, the referee called a foul on Mercy within eight meters of the goal. Mercy scored its fifth and final goal of the game.

Freshman Emy Kelty broke through the Mercy line again and passed to Benatar. Benatar threw the ball to Mah. The ball bounced off the tip of Mah’s stick and rolled into the goal. Junior Julie Dahm bagged the next Paly goal, bringing the score to 13-5.

The Vikings then hit their stride and never looked back, scoring a slew of six more goals before the game’s end, including an impressive third goal by Lucas-Conwell.

According to Lucas-Conwell, the game ended a success.

“We realized we needed to be tough,” Lucas-Conwell said. “We stepped it up and it went pretty good. They [Mercy-Burlingame] were even competition.”

Though all players did well, the goalkeeping was crucial to the team’s success, Gray said.

“Our goalies did a really good job,” Gray said. “Both [sophomore] Laura [Cutkosky] and [senior co-captain] Anna [Bastidas] made key saves at key points. That really helped us stay in the game early on and break away towards the end.”

However, the team needs to work on its focus and mental preparation, Gray said.

“We need to work on being mentally prepared for every game we play,” Gray said. “They’re still a pretty young team and we have to work on our mental game as much as our physical game.”

According to Ohlson, the Vikings suffered from underestimating their opposition.

“We definitely underestimated them in the beginning,” Ohlson said. “They played really hard so we could never let up. We just have to take away that we’re going to have to play hard for every game no matter who we’re playing.”

The varsity team will play its next game against Sacred Heart Prep at 4 p.m. on Thursday at Sacred Heart.