Coming up short
Prep girls lacrosse: Valencia falls to Crescenta Valley
Putting up a valiant effort against Crescenta Valley Friday evening, Valencia girls lacrosse lost 13-4.
Hustling to loose balls, attacker Kianna Shakir started the scoring off for the Vikings (56) within the first couple minutes of play putting the Vikings up, 1-0.
“I think that we had a lot of hustle out there getting those ground balls,” said Shakir about starting the game out strong. “I really love the effort that all our girls put into the game.”
With Crescenta Valley’s (5-3) midfielders pressing high, the counterattack ignited the Falcon offense as they rattled off three goals forcing first year head coach Cynthia Hasseman to call a timeout with 8:06 left in the first half.
Dominating time of possession the Crescenta Valley, attackers pressed and found the back of the net three more time before half.
At halftime, the Vikings trailed 6-1.
Finding each other in space, but not being able to control the ball, attacker Katherine Lin
along with Shakir had five shots on goal in the first half combined.
Vikings goalkeeper, Marissa Hasseman, made some clutch saves stopping seven of thirteen shots on goal heading into the half.
“We always want to see above a 40 percent shot save percentage and she has been pretty consistent with that,” said Hasseman about her goalie. “…She’s been playing for several years and she is continuing to improve with these fast shots that are coming in against great competition.”
Coming out of halftime guns blazing, the Falcons were able to score three more goals in less than a minute before Shakir answered with her second goal of the game bringing the score to 9-2.
Not going down without a fight the Vikings came out aggressive by making runs through and around the Falcon defense with Katarina vonMecklenburg leading the charge with three shots on goal.
Lin finally found the back of the net with a little over 15 minutes to go in the game.
After the goal, the Vikings’ defense hunkered down allowing only one more goal the rest of the way.
Shelby Lewis scored the fourth and final goal for the Vikings as she was fouled taking the ball the length of the court forcing a free shot.
She did not disappoint, scoring a goal on her only shot of the day.
Ultimately, not being able to complete the comeback Valencia fell to Crescenta Valley, 13-4.
“My girls did absolutely fabulous. This is a fantastic team that has been developed. We are going to get better with. We want to play teams that are as skillful as they are. We are continue to get better as long as we play teams of this caliber.”