Varsity 6, Foothill 13

The 2017 regular season for the Trabuco Hills Girls Varsity Lacrosse team kicked off at 7 p.m. on Tuesday, which turned out to be about three minutes before the squad was ready to go. Their opponent, the always-strong Foothill Knights, came out firing and jumped to a 5-0 lead before the fans got settled into their seats.

The Knights were coming off a preseason victory against Mater Dei, last year’s Southern Section champion, and they looked to be in mid-season form from the opening draw. After Foothill’s quick start, the Mustang defense stiffened and put up a strong fight the rest of the way. Taking out those first three minutes, the score for the last 47 was a tighter 8-6 in favor of Foothill.

This tough, early season match will help prepare the young Mustangs for their league season. This year’s squad carries only one senior while building for the future with nine freshmen and sophomores. With upcoming matches against two other top Orange County teams — Mater Dei and Santa Margarita — the team will be battle-tested when league games begin.

Highlights from the match include strong efforts from Juliet Mooney (4 goals) and Hennessey Evans (2 goals), who found ways to crack the stout Foothill defense. The Mustangs continued to work on their ball control and passing, highlighted by a beautiful bullet pass from Sarah Daneshmand to Mooney, who converted it into one of the second half goals. And the defense put in a strong team effort, repeatedly thwarting a very athletic, skilled Foothill offense.

Next up: Thursday at Santa Margarita, 5:30 p.m.