Girls’ Lacrosse: CdM no match for Foothill
TUSTIN — Both times that the Corona del Mar High girls’ lacrosse team met Foothill last season, they were games to remember for the Sea Kings.
CdM upset the Knights by a goal twice, including in the U.S. Lacrosse Southern Section South Division playoff quarterfinals.
Two games against Foothill this season have not gone as well for CdM.
The Knights, ranked No. 2 in Southern California by laxpower.com, blasted No. 15 CdM, 18-5, in a nonleague game Tuesday night at Tustin High.
Junior Meridian Lee led Foothill with six goals, and junior Sophie Forester added five. Senior co-captain Julia Taylor, an Oregon commit, had four goals and four assists.
USC commit Hannah Upshaw made eight saves in goal for Foothill, which improved to 8-0, a mark that doesn’t include the Knights’ Rose Bowl Jamboree and Sun Surf & Stix tournament titles. The Knights were able to prepare for their big game Thursday at top-ranked Mater Dei.
“On both sides of the field, it was just an even-played game,” Foothill Co-Coach Kate Hick said. “I think our defense stepped up when they needed to, and our attack took it to them. It’s probably one of the most balanced games we’ve seen so far this season for our team.”
The Knights also beat CdM, 7-2, in the Rose Bowl Jamboree title game on March 7. That game was tied at halftime. This time, Foothill took control early, earning an 8-0 lead when Lee scored on a free position shot with 8:40 remaining in the first half.
CdM scored its first goal 54 seconds later, when junior Lauren Grable scored top-shelf on sophomore Kennedy Mulvaney’s assist. CdM added goals from sophomore Katie McCabe (free position) and junior Caroline Bethel (assisted by Kennedy McGuiness) before the first half ended. Still, Foothill had grabbed a 10-3 halftime advantage.
Taylor, the Knights’ leading scorer, had just one goal in the first half but was a distributor with four assists.
“It’s exactly what we wanted to see out of her,” Hick said. “She’s drawing so much attention, obviously. For her to have the composure to find the open girl right now, I think she’s bringing another level to her game right now. For us as coaches, that’s ideal at this time of the season, to see her be a double-threat like that.”
Sophomore Jensen Coop and Mulvaney scored second-half goals for the Sea Kings, part of a strong game for Mulvaney overall as she added two assists and seven draw controls. McCabe and senior defender Brooke Beyrooty each had a team-best three ground balls, but CdM was down double-digits for most of the second half.
“We learned a lot, and I’m grateful for games like this before playoffs,” Coach Aly Simons said. “We have a list of 10 things that we’re going to take to practice and work on. If we don’t get these games to really focus on that, and see it on our face in an 18-5 score, then we don’t appreciate that we really have to work on these things in practice ... We just had a hard time transitioning the ball up the field, even when we would intercept it on defense.”
Freshman goalie Ashley Olson had eight saves for CdM (5-5), which was coming off a 17-8 Pacific Coast League win over Northwood on Monday. McGuiness scored five goals in that game for the Sea Kings, Paige Nelson had four and Bethel added three.
It’s a busy week for CdM, which plays another league game against Irvine on Wednesday before preparing for the Battle of the Bay game. CdM plays at rival Newport Harbor on Saturday at 6:30 p.m. The Sea Kings have won five straight over the Sailors, but Newport is improved this season.
“It’s going to be a really good game,” Simons said.
