 | | | Photos Gint Federas | | | | | | The NCS girls lacrosse championship game matched Miramonte against Acalanes for the third time this season - once in the regular season, once in the DAL Championship and finally in the NCS championship game. For the third time in a row, Miramonte came out victorious defeating Acalanes 10-6.
If you had to point to one difference between Acalanes and Miramonte, it would have to be the second half play of Miramonte. In the league championship game, Miramonte fell behind 4-1 and then scored 10 of the next 11 goals, winning the game 11-5. In the NCS game, Miramonte led, after a back and forth first half, by a score of 7-5. In the second half, Miramonte once again held Acalanes to only one goal while scoring three more goals themselves.
Miramonte head coach Jackie Pelletier came into the game stressing the importance of their defense: "We wanted to play team defense all over the field. We wanted to make it hard for them to bring the ball up the field and put high pressure on them all over the field. We utilized all of our players on defense, not just the defenders and we got a lot of turnovers."
The depth of the teams also proved to make a difference. Miramonte was substituting six to seven players through the game while Acalanes utilized fewer players. In the second half, Miramonte was able to maintain possession for long periods of time, which was part of Pelletier's game plan: "We were up by three and without a shot clock, we moved the ball as fast as possible and we had an 8-minute period where we were able to keep the ball away from Acalanes."
Acalanes head coach Courtney Neff agreed the second half was the difference: "Miramonte was able to keep the ball away from us and we had to go into a high-pressure defense which entailed full out sprints by our players to get the ball back and it was very fatiguing."
Leading the offense for the Matadors were sisters Perrie Lundstrom, who scored three times, and Shaune Lundstrom, who scored twice. With six girls scoring, it made it difficult for Acalanes to slow Miramonte down. Said Pelletier: "With so many of our players having the ability to score, they could not focus on one or two players on our offense."
Goalie Brianna Fick had seven saves and was effectively protected by the Miramonte defensive unit, seniors Maisy Mills, Caroline Stenzel, and Hannah Smith, junior Vanessa Lam and freshman Libby Hawkins. "Our whole defensive unit did a great job," said Pelletier. "Acalanes could not relax and we did not allow them to set up their offense. Our players had the green light to double team the ball, forcing them to be on the move and not allow them to get in a groove."
Acalanes had their standouts as well according to Neff: "Lauren Westergren was all over the field. Claire Gallagher was very effective recovering ground balls all game and Jamie Wendt was outstanding for us in goal. I'm proud of the way the team played. I believe that this was a very successful season."
Getting hot at the right time, Miramonte won 11 of their last 12 games this season. Pelletier appreciates the effort her team invested in this season: "We have a very deep program with nine seniors and 12 underclassmen. The girls wanted to get better as the season went along."
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Lamorinda Weekly, Moraga CA