When the school year began in September, Redondo girls lacrosse coach Tom Borgia felt confident his team would make a run for the LA/Santa Barbara area championship. But with the season-ending losses of three standout players including two three-year varsity starters, Borgia wondered how his younger players would step up to fill the roles.
“I knew we would be young but the young girls are really athletic,” Borgia said. “I just wasn’t sure how fast they would grow into solid varsity players. By January the young girls were looking good and I was sure we would have a good year but I also knew that Palos Verdes would be really strong and we had a really hard schedule.”
Fortunately for Borgia his girls have quickly matured, rebounding from a devastating 10-9 home loss at the end of March when Palos Verdes defeated Redondo for the first time in five years.
The Sea Hawks avenged the loss with a 17-7 rout against their Bay League rival when freshmen scored 13 goals in the win.
Redondo entered the week with a 15-3 record and a nine-game winning streak that included playoffs wins against Glendale, Palos Verdes and Agoura.
The second-seeded Sea Hawks play top-seeded Chaminade (18-3) in the LA/Santa Barbara area championship game Wednesday at Mira Costa High School. The winner advances to play the Orange County winner between No. 1 Mater Dei and No. 2 Foothill in the championship game to be held at 10 a.m. Saturday at Palos Verdes High School.
“After we lost to PV at home and watched them go crazy on our field, we really got mad and focused,” Borgia said. “Our offense has five or six girls who can score three to four goals a game. We now start two juniors, two freshman and three sophomores who have averaged 17 goals a game during our winning streak, including playoff wins against strong teams.”
Redondo reached Wednesday’s championship game with an 11-6 come-from-behind victory against Agoura on Saturday.
Trailing 4-3 at halftime, the Sea Hawks took control with junior midfielder Alison Shafer recording three goals and four assists, Addy Bass scoring three goals, Gracie Washburn and Brooke Tokushige each tallying two goals and goalkeeper Melanie Paiz making seven saves.
“We are explosive and can score in bunches,” Borgia said. “We are led by Alison Shafer (42 goals, 37 assists), our super sophs Emma Hodges (43 goals, 20 assists), Addy Bass (47 goals, 16 assists) and Sophie Ristorcelli (26 goals, 11 assists).
“ Freshman sensation Brooke Tokushige has 33 goals and 22 assists and freshman Marianna Gamet has 17 goals in just 11 games since she has been brought up to the varsity. Gracie Washburn has 14 goals and 8 assists, returning to play after rehabbing her knees that had screws put in them. Sara Furutani rounds out the attack with 17 goals and 6 assists.”
Redondo’s defense is experienced with seniors Melanie Paiz in goal and defender Adrianna D’Agostino, juniors Lisa Diethelm and Maddie Marcon and sophomore Sierra Dorn.
“Chaminade has a very strong player that we will need to double cover and force her to pass the ball and I know our defense is up for the challenge,” Borgia said.
In boys competition, top-seeded Palos Verdes (17-4) defeated Agoura 16-8 in the semifinals. Beau Sabosky scored four goals, Austin Lowi had three goals and Jake Nolls recorded two goals for the Sea Kings who play No. 2 Loyola on Wednesday. The winner will face the Corona del Mar-Foothill winner at 12 p.m. Saturday at Palos Verdes.
