The Palo Alto High School girls’ varsity lacrosse team lost to Burlingame High School 10-4 on Friday in its last home game of the season.

The Panthers scored the first goal within five minutes. The Lady Vikes then scored on a shot by middie Maya Fielder (’10), but Fielder was called for a penalty and yellow carded on the play, nullifying the goal. Burlingame would maintain its lead by a few goals throughout the entire game.

“[After the first goal] I think that our defense just really started to settle down,” Burlingame goalie Aly Tyree (’10) said. “We knew that the Palo Alto team was really, really quick so we had to maneuver them, and push them to the side.”

The Lady Vikes felt that they did not excel on defense, or in finding openings on offense.

“[The Panthers] had a lot better transition and they had a really good clearing tactic,” Paly middie Lauren Mah (’10) said. “They knew where each player was on the field and they could hit them, and they also had a really good attack.”

With the score 5-2 going into the second half, the Panthers insured their lead with two quick goals, again within the first five minutes. The Lady Vikes tried to hold on, getting a goal each from attacker Kimmie Flather (’12) and Mah, but their efforts were not enough.

“I think we need to communicate more and [play] better defense, and we need to fake out the goalie and get better placement on our shots. [We need to] not make their goalie look good,” Paly middie Nina Kelty (’13) said.

Burlingame coach Tara Pratt praised her team for its effort and overall victory.

“We were not nervous but we knew we had a lot of work to do and we had to focus,” Pratt said. “Our goalie had some amazing saves that really kept us where we were, and our girls were able to execute quite well today. They executed their game plan, had great defense and our goalie had a great game.”

The Lady Vikes will play Gunn High School at 5:30 p.m. on Friday, May 5 at Gunn.