Varsity 20, Laguna Hills 7

Fresh off a win in their league home opener, the Trabuco Hills Girls Varsity Lacrosse team headed on the road to play the Laguna Hills Hawks.

The Mustangs opened fast scoring in less than a minute and followed up with another goal 30 seconds later. The Hawks were able to answer with a goal of their own from the free position to bring the score to 2-1. Both teams suffered from a high amount of energy and had trouble smoothly transitioning the ball up the field. The Mustangs settled down in front of the Hawks goal and began to capitalize on the uneven pace.

Jenelle Phillips scored on four solo shots in a row and capped off a Mustang scoring frenzy with an assist to Madison Dumond. Marina Sandoval closed out the half with a goal bringing the score to 11-4. In the first half the Mustangs controlled the middle of the field by forcing 5 turnovers and only losing 1 of their own. Cyrena Malkowski had a strong first half performance with 8 saves to keep the Hawks in check.

The Mustangs did not let up in the second half and pressed the attack through Melanie Leong, who scored 4 times after the break and assisted on two more. With their fast strike offense in full force. the Mustang defense was able to shut down the Hawks attack and limited them to 3 second-half goals. Through the strong play of Jackie Huse, Rachel Gillet and Cheyenne Ochoa the Mustangs picked up 11 ground balls and had 7 more takeaways. The game finished on a pass from Sandoval to Leong making it a 20-7 final.

The Mustangs move ahead with an 8-1 record — 1-0 in South Coast League. It can arguably be considered the Mustangs’ best start in program history with their only loss against the Texas state champions.

Goal scorers of the game: Jenelle Phillips (7), Melanie Leong (5), Marina Sandoval (4), Kendall Derbyshire (2), Jackie Huse (1) and Madison Dumond (1).

Next up is a South Coast League game at Mission Viejo on Tuesday at 5:30 PM.