Varsity 20, El Toro 8

The 11-1 Trabuco Hills Girls Varsity Lacrosse team hosted the El Toro Chargers Tuesday night in a South Coast League game.

The Chargers quickly established themselves with a score off the draw in the first minute of play. The Mustangs could not hold onto the ball and struggled with their mid-field passing. Again, the Chargers seized the opportunity with another score and lead the game at 2-0.

Erin Beall

Then Mustang Jackie Huse intercepted a midfield pass to jumpstart the defense and Trabuco began to attack the Chargers. Jenelle Phillips finally had an answer for the Chargers and scored back-to-back goals to tie the game at 2-2. Erin Beall, in her second start in goal for an injured Cyrena Malkowski, stopped two free position shots in a row. The Mustang defense rallied around her and began to shut down the Charger attack. Becca Haggard proved instrumental in the middle of the field by winning a pair of ground balls and a forcing a turnover to keep the momentum in the Mustangs favor. With 15 minutes left in the first half Madison Dumond fed a pass to Melanie Leong for the go ahead score — and the Mustangs never looked back.

By half the Mustangs held a commanding 13-3 lead over the El Toro.

The Mustangs opened the second half with another Jenelle Phillips goal and continued to dictate the pace of the game. Marina Sandoval dominated the middle of the field with 3 ground balls and a takeaway and kept the Mustang attack pressing forward. The Chargers attempted to rally, but had fallen too far behind to make an impact. A pair of Taylor Fox goals added to the Mustang total and the Mustangs (12-1) came away with their 8th win in a row and are undefeated and atop South Coact (4-0) as the first half of league play ended. The final score was 20-8, Mustangs.

Erin Beall had 9 saves on the night with 7 coming from the free position.

Goal scorers of the game were” Jenelle Phillips (8), Melanie Leong (3), Kendall Derbyshire (3), Taylor Fox (2), Jackie Huse (1), Marina Sandoval (1), Becca Haggard (1) and Samantha Ransom (1).

Next up is the Mission Viejo Diablos at home in another South Coast matchup on Thursday at 5:30 PM.