The girls’ lacrosse team beat Menlo-Atherton Friday night by a score of 18-7. The game was a tale of two halves for the Vikings as they started slowly in the first half, but picked it up in the second.
The Vikings started strong right out of the gates as Kimmie Flather (‘12) scored the first goal of the game only :38 seconds into the first half. Menlo-Atherton responded in force by scoring two goals back-to-back, to give them a 2-1 lead. With 20:22 left in the half Simone Buteau (‘13) threaded a pass into Anemarie Drez (‘14) who scored a goal to tie the game at two a piece.
Nina Kelty (‘13) and Kristin DeStefano (‘14) each added to the scoring by finishing their eight meter penalty shots. Menlo-Atherton proved they would not go quietly as they came back to score two quick goals to make the score 4-4 with 4:23 left in the first half. Charlotte Biffar (‘13) scored her first goal of the night off a pass from Julia Farino (‘13) to put Paly up by one. Menlo-Atherton scored a goal with 2:49 left in the half to tie the game up once again. Paly took over over at this point. Drez, Biffar and Flather each scored one more goal to make the half time score 8-5.
The Vikings started the second half with tenacity and aggression. The girls felt their first half was not up to their potential and made it clear they could play better. After giving up a goal, the Vikings went on a six goal scoring run.
The run was highlighted by goals from Flather, three goals from Biffar, a goal by Nina Kelty and a goal by Emy Kelty (‘12). Menlo Atherton was able to conjure up one more goal off a rebounded block shot by Emma Beckstrom (‘13). The rest of the evening belonged to the Vikings as they scored four more goals to end the game. Flather scored two more goals and Nina Kelty and Simone Buteau (‘13) each made a goal themselves. The final score was 18-7 in favor of the Vikings.
After the game the Vikings were pleased with the win but disappointed with what they considered a poor performance. Coach Jamie Nesbitt was not pleased with the quality of play.
“I don’t think they (the girls) played that well.” Nesbitt said. “I was kind of disappointed. We came out a little slow. We are a very good team the girls just have to be reminded that they can’t play down to their competition.”
Despite scoring five goals Kimmie Flather shared similar sentiment about the Vikings’ play.
“We did not play as well as we could have played.” Flather said. “We just need to figure what’s going on. The first half we were just so excited to go score that we were checking out of control just to get the ball back. Second half towards the end we finally picked it up a little bit and played better defense.”
The Vikings next take the field against Saratoga on March 14.