Redondo girls lacrosse team wins North Division but fall to St. Margaret’s
Redondo’s girls lacrosse team celebrates its second straight U.S. Lacrosse North Division title after 16-6 victory over Agoura. Photo
Redondo’s girls lacrosse program continued to show its strength winning a second consecutive North Division title before losing to Orange County representative St. Margaret’s.
After winning its 10th straight Bay League championship, Redondo (18-3) began its playoff run defeating Newbury Park, Royal, Cate and Agoura, while outscoring its opponents 65-32.
In the North Division championship game where the Sea Hawks defeated Agoura 16-6, sophomore Marianna Gamet scored three goals, junior Addison Bass scored twice and junior Emma Hodges recorded three assists to help Redondo pull away after being tied 5-5 late in the first half.
“Going into the season I had high expectations. We had 10 starters returning including everyone on offense,” Redondo coach Tom Borgia said. “I expected us to be a really high scoring team that ran the fast break every chance we had. We ended up averaging 15 goals a game, No. 2 in Southern Section behind St Margaret’s.”
It was Redondo’s fifth title in seven attempts and no other team has won more than once.
Redondo lost to the more experienced St. Margaret’s squad, which is ranked No. 6 in the nation.The 17-6 loss was a reminder of last year, when the Sea Hawks fell to Orange County winner Mater Dei 21-11 in the championship game.
Palos Verdes (13-5) was ranked just behind Redondo at No. 2 in the LA/Santa Barbara Division but fell to No. 8 Agoura 13-6 after defeating Downey 12-5 in the first round of the playoffs.
“Our strength on offense has always been that we have multiple weapons and that most defenses can’t stop them all,” Borgia said. “We had four girls score over 50 goals and they all return next year.”
Bass led the Sea Hawks with 56, Gamet had 54, Hodges scored 53 and sophomore Brooke Tokushige had 51.
Redondo had two girls with over 80 points, Hodges had 94 (53 goals and 41 assists) and 2017 All American Alison Shafer finished the season with 85 points, 43 goals and a team leading 42 assists.
“My big concern at the start of the season was at goalie as we graduated the Bay League MVP at the position,” Borgia said. ”But our goalie, Eva Lovell, really had a stronger year than I expected. She had two huge saves that won really big games, our 13-12 comeback win over Palos Verdes and our 7-6 playoff win over Royal.”
Although Redondo loses its two top defenders, seniors Lisa Diethelm and Maddie Marcon, Borgia feels the team has a few young players ready to step up into those roles.
“It’s been a really rewarding year for me because two former players from our 2015 championship team, Allie Kobel and Allison Shamir, coached with me and they brought a lot of young energy to the team,” Borgia added.