By Elizabeth Goldman
Sports Editor
Girls lacrosse defeated Culver City High School, 12-4, in its home game on Wednesday. This was the girls’ eleventh game of the season, its first non-tournament game succeeding its first loss of the season against Crescenta Valley on March 9.
“We were really excited to come back strong [tonight],” freshman midfielder Kate Donnelley said. “We came up with some new plays [after the last game], and we implemented them [well].”
The Wednesday game started off strong, with Costa leading 7-2 at the half. According to freshman midfielder Lizzie Witherell, the team tried out a new style of defense that it began practicing the day before the game.
“Our [new] higher pressure defense and everyone’s strong one v. one defense helped us avoid penalties within the eight meter, and it helped us cause more turnovers with interceptions and ground balls,” Witherell said. “Everyone did a great job to help it work successfully.”
Costa continued its lead over Culver, winning every draw except two and causing consistent turnovers, according to Witherell and Donnelly. According to Donnelly, going into the game, she knew winning the draw and gaining possession were going to be important.
“We did really well this game,” junior goalie Katie Witherell said. “We started off strong, winning the first draws and scoring first, and we stayed on top throughout the whole game, even when they started getting stats.”
Costa was able to keep up its lead throughout the entirety of the game, eventually ending with a decisive win, 12-4.
“Our main goal this game was just to not let up, as it is hard to try and stop the momentum of the other team once it starts building,” Katie Witherell said. “But, we played the whole 50 minutes and never were behind.”
Earlier this season, the team had a winning streak of seven games before its loss to Crescenta. However, after the win against Culver, and its additional success at the OC/LA Tournament on Saturday, it has started a new winning streak of three.
“It felt good to have a game with less major penalties and higher energy so we could play like ourselves again,” Lizzie Witherell said. “[It allowed] the whole team to have fun and be excited.”
The team’s current record is 11-1. Its next game will be an away game on March 21 against Santa Margarita High School.
“I’m looking forward to seeing where we place in the CIF bracket, as CIF switched up the way they do divisions for lacrosse this year,” Katie Witherell said. “It’ll be interesting to see what the difference is, but hopefully regardless, we’ll get a spot.”
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