Mustang Girls’ Lacrosse Team Overmatched by Undefeated Griffins

LOS ALAMITOS–They are a very young team, with only two senior starters. On Monday, the Mira Costa High girls' lacrosse team jumped on a bus to take on Los Alamitos, which is the defending CIF-Southern Section champion, ranked No. 1 in the state and 19th in the nation, and has a senior-laden team that includes a three-time all-county player in Shaina Denny and four others who were all-league or all-county selections a year ago. 
 
The results were predictable.

The Griffins broke out to an early lead, scoring their first goal in the first minute, and went on to an easy 16-1 victory in a non-league match, getting four goals and two assists from Melanie Martinez and three goals and two assists from Tracy Paulson.

''They're a good team, very athletic," Mustangs coach Amanda Cross said. "They move the ball well, they play defense well, and we're not there yet. We're a very young team. We don't have a lot of experience, so we're going to take this as a learning experience and hopefully grow from that.

''We can't have a pity party for ourselves and be all sad and upset, because they're a good team, and I totally give them credit for that. I hope that this puts the spark in us to realize that, OK, we've got to pick it up.''

The Mustangs (3-8), who return to Bay League play Wednesday against a 1-7-1 Beverly Hills team, did that to a degree. Mira Costa, which is in second place in its league, moved the ball much better than it had in a loss to rival Redondo Union on Friday. But the Mustangs made critical errors and turnovers when they had chances to attack the goal, all under stern pressure from the Griffins and senior defender Amiya Moretta, one of their returning all-league players.

Los Alamitos (10-0), which is gunning for a second consecutive undefeated season and is much more physical and experienced than the Mustangs, was able to check balls free and come up with nearly every ground ball. The Griffins were able to attack off of every turnover, and kept the ball moving around the Mira Costa goal a majority of the match, setting up good shots.

The shots that the Mustangs were able to put on goal in the first half were knocked down by Los Alamitos goalie Natalie Richards. Mira Costa did not score until 5:16 remained in the match, when Robin Brown was able to fire a shot into the net.

Brown has scored four of the Mustangs five goals in losses to Redondo Union and Los Alamitos.

''They double and triple teamed and we weren't holding our cradles in very tightly and they were checking, and  we didn't come up with those ground balls that were 50-50, so … you don't get those chances,'' Cross said. ''I was impressed we did play better than we did on Friday. The passing looked better. I just hope that we can keep going from here.''