Varsity 9, San Clemente 6

Trabuco Hills Girls Lacrosse Varsity welcomed the San Clemente Tritons for their South Coast League opener on Wednesday.

The Tritons came out strong and were unfazed by the Mustangs’ early-season success — winners of their first six of seven games — or the home field advantage. In just over a minute of play, the Tritons scored to take a 1-0 lead.

Mustang Jenelle Phillips answered with a score off of a free position shot to bring the game to 1-1. Both teams attempted to settle down and build a consistent attack, but aggressive marking and checking quickly took over and the Tritons scored again to take the lead. For the next ten minutes the Tritons and Mustangs traded goals and sat deadlocked at 4-4. The Mustang defense began to assert its presence, including tough sideline marking from Brittany Tran and the strong inside pressure from Caroline Rabourn and Madison Dumond. Kendall Derbyshire rallied the Mustangs off of a pair of quick assists from behind the goal that help propel the Mustangs to a comfortable 8-4 lead as the half ended.

The second half began with a confident Mustang squad settling down into a short passing attack. The ball control tactics of the Mustangs were dictated by the setting sun as they patiently waited for an opportunity. The Tritons challenged the Mustang attack, but were unable to come away with a takeaway and could not gain any ground.

The Mustangs notched another win with the final score at 9-6 — boosting the Trabuco record to 7-1 (1-0 in league) for the best season’s start since 2010.

The game against San Clemente was won off of a flurry of action in the first half. Marina Sandoval was a key part of the win with 3 goals, 4 ground balls and 2 takeaways. Jenelle Phillips 5 first half goals kept the Tritons from rallying and Jackie Huse contributed with 4 takeaways that kept the ball in Mustang control.

Goal scorers of the game were; Jenelle Phillips (5), Marina Sandoval (3) and Melanie Leong (1)

Next up for the 7-1 Trabuco Hills Mustangs is a road game Thursday against the Laguna Hills Hawks.