On Wednesday night, Paly girls’ lacrosse overcame the Saratoga High School Falcons 16-10 in the Santa Clara Valley Athletic League (SCVAL) semifinals.

The Vikings were off to a strong start after Maya Benatar (‘16) won the first three drews and Claire Chevalier (‘15) and Benatar each scored once to give the Lady Vikes a one goal advantage.

With only nine minutes left in the first half, Reid Walters (‘16) made an interception and perfectly assisted Benatar for her second goal of the night.

Three minutes later, the team was leading by six goals after Liana Pickrell (‘15), Paige Bara (‘15) and Benatar each found the back of the net.

With this comfortable lead, the Vikings were able to sit back and counterattack. Chevalier, Benatar and Lauren Gargiulo (‘15) were able to successfully go through Saratoga’s defense to score.

While the Lady Vikes’ offense was doing an outstanding job, goalkeeper Meredith Kinnaman (‘16) kept a clean sheet with seven saves in the first half alone. Both teams left the team at halftime on a score of 9-0.

The Vikings’ offense kept scoring goals at an impressive rate during the second half. However the Lady Vikes’ defense was not as strong and the Falcons were able to score on goalkeeper Megan Valencia ten times while Valencia still had three saves and the Falcons found the post twice.

Despite a weaker second half, the great display of the first half was enough for the Lady Vikes who won their semifinal with a final score of 16-10.

“I actually that our transitions worked well today,” Benatar said. “We connected the ball well and had a lot of assists, cutters were hit and scored. We should be able to win every draw and we should have the ball and attack more than we did in the second half of this game ”

The Vikings’ win sent them to the SCVAL finals against cross town rival Gunn High School Titans on Saturday, May 16 at Gunn High School.