The La Cañada High School varsity girls’ lacrosse team was edged by visiting Westridge School of Pasadena, 4-3, in its season finale last Friday.
The Spartans blanked the visitors in the second half with strong defense led by co-captain Alex Gilmore, junior Annabelle Fung, and sophomores Darlene Perez and Kayle Cho.
LCHS scored with just a minute left in the game on a beautifully executed pass by senior Bianca Cugno to junior Mia Louie on an 8-meter opportunity.
After losing the draw, the Spartans regained possession on a perfect pickpocket steal by Mia Louie. With 14 seconds remaining, Cugno sprang free on a double pick by sophomores Maddie McClure and Irelyn Fung, and raced to goal, tried to crease roll and dumped the ball just short of the goal. Freshman Rachel Herrick, Mia Louie and Irelyn Fung scrambled for the loose rebound and came up just short of tying the game. The Spartans impressively fired off two shots on goal in those last 14 seconds.
“We had a really strong showing this last game,” head coach Jenny Louie said about the improvement the Spartans made since their 11-2 loss to Westridge earlier this season. “Remarkable improvement by all players throughout the season and the team functioned as a unit today. They never gave up and fought to the end; it was a gallant effort by all.”
La Canada’s two earlier goals came from Cugno and freshman Lucy Kim. The team registered three individual assists from Cugno, co-captain Melanie Evans and Herrick while freshman goalie Gretchen Louie added eight saves to finish with 133 saves in 16 games (8.3 per game).
LCHS finished the campaign fifth in the Pacific League with a 0-4 record (2-13-1 overall).
First published in the May 4 print issue of the Outlook Valley Sun.
