By Isabelle Chiu
Online Sports Editor
Despite having several starting players out due to injury, Costa’s boys lacrosse team managed to pull off a win in an away game on Wednesday against Palisades High School, who was previously undefeated at 6-0.
Costa won 12-6. The team gained an early lead and maintained it throughout the game, with the first and last quarter more eventful than the others. Playing Palisades was a good test for the team and prepared them for league play since Palisades is usually the best team in the city section, according to head coach Aaron Karsh.
“We executed where we could, our offense played well, our goalie blocked many shots, and our defense was strong,” senior attacker Zane Crandall said.
The Mustangs got off to a fast start, opening up with two goals by Crandall. Palisades put a point on the board, but Crandall answered back with another goal. Both Palisades and junior attacker Ryan Gustafson scored to end the first quarter 4-2.
“I think we played the best in the first quarter,” senior attacker Tyler Maruyama said. “The ball movement looked good, as we were taking advantage of the matchups we wanted in the field, and we did a good job finishing.”
Costa gradually furthered its lead with two goals scored by junior midfielder Casey Bonner which brought the halftime score to 6-3. The defense remained solid, with three saves by senior goalie John Van Sickle.
“We got off to the right start which fired us up,” Crandall said. “Everyone stepped up their own and got more intense with the game. We started rolling from the beginning and never stopped.”
The third quarter began with a steal from junior midfielder Adam Enomoto to allow Maruyama to score. Shortly after, junior Jonathan Packer scored bringing the score to 8-3 with only six minutes left in the third quarter. Both teams went back and forth but never managed to finish their plays.
“We had some good takes but started to taper off,” Maruyama said. “We need to work on going 100% the entire game rather than just when it’s close.”
In the last quarter of the game the Dolphins scored twice in the first few minutes to bring the score to 8-5. The Mustangs decided to step up their game with goals from Crandall, sophomore midfielder Zachary Horowitz, and two from Gustafson to end the game 12-6.
“They understood the urgency of the end of the game a little more so they put in more effort,” Karsh said. “We’re getting smarter with our decision making and we are executing above the level we were executing at the beginning of the season.”
Costa, now 6-3 overall, will next play Serra High School from Northern California at home on Friday at 3 p.m. According to Karsh, the team tries to play better competition in its non-league schedule to challenge themselves with out of area teams.
“We need to work on moving the ball faster and executing the plays the right way as opposed to just any way,” Karsh said. “A lot of times it works just because our guys are better athletes than some of the teams we are playing, but when we go into league play, they need to execute it the right way to make it work.”
Leave a Reply