Varsity 10, Mission Viejo 8

The Trabuco Hills Girls Varsity Lacrosse team on Tuesday traveled  to Mission Viejo to face their South Coast league rivals, the Diablos.

Both teams came out with an aggressive start. The Diablos ran through several double teams and were up to the challenge of facing the tough Mustang defense. The Diablos scored first, but the Mustangs answered quickly with a Jackie Huse pass to Jenelle Phillips, who fired a shot past the Diablos goalie to even the score at 1-1. This would mark the beginning of a half that included 6 lead changes as both teams fought to gain the upper hand.

The Mustang defense was able to turn breakaways into free position shots limiting the Diablo attack and slowing down the pace. Senior goalie Cyrena Malkowksi had one of her finest games — including six first half saves. Hannah Moller and Rachel Gillet were key pieces to the Mustang defense, because of their ability to bring the ball up from deep in Mustang territory. With 1 minute left in the half the Diablos tied the score at 5-5. The Mustangs were able to control the ball and drive towards the Diablo. Jackie Huse split two defenders bouncing off one, but was able to pass to Melanie Leong. Leong scored with 3 seconds left in the half bringing the score to 6-5 with the Mustangs in the lead.

The Mustangs started the second half with the momentum clearly on their side. They capped off a three-goal scoring stretch on a goal from Madison Dumond, assisted by Jenelle Phillips, to go up 9-5. The Diablos matched the Mustangs shot for shot and began to claw their way back into the game. With 5 minutes left in the game the Diablos scored twice to come within 2 goals.

The Mustangs found themselves fighting to regain control against a resurgent Diablo squad. Cyrena Malkowski intercepted a Diablo pass in front of the Mustang goal and shut down the Diablo attack. Malkowski had 9 of her 11 saves on free position shots and had two takeaways — including the most crucial takeaway came near the end of the game that essentially sealed the 10-8 victory.

The Mustangs are now 9-1, 2-0 in league play — the best 10-game start to a season in the program’s 8-year history.

Mustangs goal scorers of the game were: Melanie Leong (3), Jenelle Phillips (3), Jackie Huse (2), Madison Dumond (1) and Kendall Derbyshire (1).

Next up? Hosting Temecula Valley on Tuesday at 5:30 PM.