Although the sport of lacrosse is growing at a rapid pace in the South Bay, teams from Orange County continue to dominate the southland.
After winning North Division championships, Mira Costa’s boys team and the girls from Redondo suffered humbling losses Saturday in the U.S. Lacrosse Southern Section Division 1 championships held at Redondo Union High School.
Mira Costa (17-4) fell behind 5-0 and could not overcome a 13-2 halftime deficit, falling to Foothill (18-4) 19-5. The win marked the fifth consecutive Southern Section championship for the Knights who are listed No. 1 in the Southern Section and No. 4 in the state in the LAX Power rankings. Mira Costa finished ranked No. 5 in the section and 35th in the state under first-year head coach Chris Jewett.
Austin Hafdell scored two goals to lead the Mustangs who had trouble penetrating Foothill’s big, physical defense. Tom Farrell, Tajee Mobley and Cody Smith each scored one goal for Mira Costa.
In the girls Division 1 championship, Redondo (18-2) fell behind 13-1 at halftime but the scrappy Sea Hawks never gave up, matching Los Alamitos goal-for-goal in the second half of a 19-5 loss.
It was the third straight title for Los Alamitos (19-3) who is ranked No. 1 in the Southern Section and No. 5 in the state.
Allison Field scored Redondo’s only goal in the first half before Julia Denney and junior Brittany Ross scored two goals apiece in the second half.
“We had a good season and, as a young team, grew a lot,” said Denney, a two-time team captain. “I think we were a better team at the end of this year than the end of last year.”
Coach Tom Borgia’s team appears capable of making a run at a fourth consecutive Bay League title and third straight North Division championship next year. Redondo has only nine seniors on its 23-player roster and will look to Ross, sophomore goal keeper Heather Czech, junior Micayla Kotzbach and sophomore Allison Kotzbach to form a strong nucleus for the Sea Hawks.
The bigger test for Borgia will be rising to the level of the Orange County schools.
“Well, that is certainly a big challenge for all of the local schools,” Borgia said. “We have the athletes in Redondo and the South Bay, but what we lack is the opportunity for middle school girls to get proper training and quality leagues for them to play in.
“The girls that play in Orange County and San Diego County have been playing since 4-5th grade. They have hundreds of girls playing in youth leagues. When they get to high school they have already been playing for 4-5 years. We have had only five girls that had ever played lacrosse before they joined our program. This year I had 10 new players, two seniors, two juniors and six freshmen and none had ever touched a lacrosse stick before our summer sessions.”
Borgia believes he can get to the level of the Orange County teams, but that it will take quite a while to establish the foundation with youth programs for girls at the middle school and even the elementary school level.
“Parras Middle school is far ahead of other middle schools as they have had basic lacrosse as part of their program for 4-5 years now,” Borgia said. “We need to start getting teams and leagues in the local middle schools and US Lacrosse has recently started doing that in Palos Verdes. I hope to get a team established at Parras in the future as well. Plans are being made to try for a fall league and that would also be a big help in increasing interest in girls lacrosse.”
Denney is a prime example of the importance of introducing lacrosse to kids at an earlier age. The senior became interested in the sport when a former Redondo coach held a clinic when Denney was in 7th grade. Living in south Torrance and in a district with no lacrosse teams at the high school level, Denney acquired a permit to attend Redondo Union High School where she could play lacrosse.
It was a win-win situation for both player and school. Denney will take her talents to Pennsylvania where she will play lacrosse for Swarthmore College next season.
“I think the Redondo program is on the right track but it will take some time to catch up with the Orange County teams,” Denney said. “They have a lot more clubs which provide the opportunity for players to compete in the off season.”
