Varsity 12, Tesoro 5 (Playoffs)

The Trabuco Hills Girls Varsity Lacrosse team hosted the Tesoro Titans in the first round of the US Lacrosse Southern Section playoffs.

The Mustangs quickly took control of the ball at the start and moved into Titan territory, scoring off of a Jenelle Phillips shot to put the Mustangs in the lead at 1-0. Melanie Leong won draw control and the Mustangs threatened again, but could not get it past the Titan goalie. The Titans regained possession and attacked the Mustangs. Trabuco goalie Cyrena Malkowski made her presence felt immediately and frustrated the Titan offense. The ball changed sides several times before the Titans scored with 17 minutes left in the half to tie the game at 1-1.

It took less than a minute for Mustang Kendall Derbyshire to fire in a goal from the free position putting the Mustangs back in the lead. Mustang Madison Dumond proved to be a key player on defense and collected 4 ground balls along with a takeaway on the night helping keep the Mustangs in control. Two more Mustang goals put them in the lead at 4-1 with 9 minutes remaining in the half.

The Titan attack surged back, firing off a pair of unanswered goals and threatened to take the lead away from the Mustangs. But Trabuco rallied as Phillips scored two more times — she had six on the night — to close out the half with the Mustangs up, 6-3.

The Mustangs started the second half started with a Becca Haggard pass to Derbyshire who scored on a high corner shot. The Mustangs continued to stop the Titan attack from the tough defensive play of Hannah Moller, Ashly Bradshaw and Rachel Gillett. Three more Mustang goals put them firmly in the lead at 10-3 with 15 minutes left in the game. When the Titan attack did break through, Malkowski was there to stop the shot. Malkowski only allowed 2 second half-goals and had 10 saves on the night.

It was the third time this season that the South Coast League champion Mustangs (17-2) — the #8 seed — had beaten the #9 Titans (9-7).

It’s also the second consecutive year that the Mustangs won a playoff game. The Mustangs advance to the Orange County quarterfinals and visit #1 seed Capistrano Valley (16-0) Thursday at 7 p.m. Capo beat #16 El Toro, 19-8 in their first-round playoff match on Tuesday.

Goal scorers of the game were: Jenelle Phillips (6), Kendall Derbyshire (3), Melanie Leong (1), Jackie Huse (1) and Madison Dumond (1)