Paly’s varsity girls’ lacrosse team continues to dominate the Skyline division of the West Bay Athletic League after defeating Notre Dame on Tuesday, 13-3.

The Vikings consistently claimed ground balls and won draws, allowing them to control the field and push Notre Dame onto defense.

Paly started its offensive streak by winning the ground ball at the first draw. Within 30 seconds, Paly senior Kirsten Atkinson scored the first goal.

The Vikings claimed the ball at the ensuing draw. Senior co-captains Caroline Lucas-Conwell and Helene Zahoudanis passed the ball up the field and Lucas-Conwell scored the second Paly goal moments later.

Though Paly won the third draw and quickly made two attempts on goal, freshman Kimmie Flather collided with a Notre Dame defender. Because of the foul, Notre Dame received the ball and sprinted it past Paly to score.

Notre Dame had several opportunities to score off of fast break situations, but as the game continued, the Paly defenders slowed Notre Dame players down and forced them to settle their attack.

“We’re going to continue trying to work on slowing down that [Notre Dame] runner as she’s running down the field,” coach Jen Gray said. “We want to get that [the Paly defense] to a settled defense situation instead of a fast break.”

Notre Dame regained possession after the draw, but the Vikings intercepted a pass. Flather, Atkinson and sophomore Emily Benatar rapidly sent the ball up the field until Benatar scored, bringing the score to 3-1.

Paly held onto its offensive position and made several attempts until Notre Dame seized a ground ball and made for the Paly goal. Paly and Notre Dame fought for multiple ground balls inside the 8-meter arc, though no goals were scored.

Finally, Paly intercepted a Notre Dame pass and regained offense. Junior Sam Herzog quickly scored. Sophomore Hannah Ohlson scored immediately after, bringing the score to 5-1.

In the scuffle following the next draw, Herzog received a yellow card for a head check. Because of the foul, the Vikings lost possession. Notre Dame sped past the defenders and scored for the second time.

Notre Dame and Paly battled for the ball without either side gaining ground until Zahoudanis won a ground ball and passed to Cain. Cain shook off two defenders and scored, bringing the score to 6-2.

Notre Dame won the draw and quickly shot, though senior co-captain and goalie Anna Bastidas blocked it. Paly lost the ball when it went out of bounds, but Notre Dame fumbled and dropped it. Junior defender Lauren Traube grabbed the ball and passed it up the field. After a series of fast, strong passes, Zahoudanis scored the seventh Paly goal.

Though there were multiple fouls and shots in the remainder of the first half, the Paly defenders let no shots through.

Overall, Gray was happy with the Vikings’ defense.

“Our defense was trying to work out some kinks, but they got a few things down,” Gray said. “[Sophomore defender] Gracie Cain played perfect defense the entire game.”

In the remainder of the first half, Paly juniors Emily Kenyon and Natalie Gauthier scored two more goals. At the buzzer, the Vikings were ahead, 9-2.

Despite their control of ground balls, Benatar thinks there is still room for improvement.

“We [Paly] were ahead in ground balls, 26-12, but we really weren’t killing them [Notre Dame] on them,” Benatar said. “We need to work on is just pressuring them into ground balls more and really being aggressive.”

At the start of the second half, Notre Dame pushed towards the Paly goal after a series of ground balls. Notre Dame scored its third goal over the heads of several Paly defenders and sophomore goalie Laura Cutcosky.

For the remainder of the game, the Vikings claimed the majority of the ground balls and controlled the field. Despite good Notre Dame defense, Lucas-Conwell and juniors Lauren Mah, Maya Fielder and Mari Wilson scored with their non-dominant hands before the end of the game, bringing the final score to 13-3.

According to Gray, Paly’s improved stick skills helped it defeat Notre Dame.

“We’ve been working really hard in the last few practices on fundamentals and I think that really shows,” Gray said. “I think the game went very well today. I think that they [Paly] looked really good.”

However, the Vikings will continue to fine-tune their attack, Gray said.

“We’re going to work on our timing on attack for our cuts and our moving more in settled attack,” Gray said.

The varsity team will play its next game against Harker at 4 p.m. on Thursday at Paly.