In an intense, back and forth battle, the Palo Alto High School boys’ lacrosse team fell to Burlingame 12-11 under the Paly lights this Monday night.
Burlingame started out strong driving toward goal, however the Viking defense kept the ball away, shutting down the Panther attack. The momentum changed when James Harrison (‘14) sent the ball downfield to Tully McCalister (‘14) who took a shot on goal with just under nine minutes left in the quarter. Jordan Gans (‘14) continued the momentum, scoring with 8:27 left in the quarter. Despite shots by Walker Mees (‘13) and Gen Murph (‘13), the Panther defense sent the ball forward and on a breakaway scored, tying up the game at one all. With just 19 seconds left in the quarter, the Panthers scored yet again, taking a 2-1 lead over the Vikings.
The Vikes looked to tie up the score at the start of the second quarter with a pass from Skyler Anderson (‘13) to Zach Levitan (‘15) who shot the ball within inches of the top of the goal. Soon after, Jonny Glazier (‘13) took charge, scoring off a pass from Logan Mendenhall (‘13).
At two all, the Panthers hoped to take the lead yet again, driving downfield. However, goalie Quintin Valenti (‘16) made a key save, shutting down the Panther offense.
With seven minutes in the half, Anderson sent the ball into the back of the net for the Vikings, putting them in the lead, 3-2. However, the Panthers soon countered with a goal, tying up the game at three. Continuing their offensive momentum, Burlingame sent two more past Q. Valenti giving them a two goal advantage over the Vikings.
In response, Glazier, taking the ball downfield, passed to Anderson who bounced the ball into the top left corner, reducing the Panther lead to one with two minutes left in the half.
The Panthers started out the second half on a dominant note, scoring two goals within the first two minutes, putting them up 7-4. However, the Vikings quickly reacted with passes from Glazier to McCalister to Mendenhall who finally scored, bringing the score to 7-5.
The Burlingame offense quickly countered with a goal of their own, advancing their lead to three. Glazier, taking action, pulled off three shots before finally putting one past the Panther goalie, bringing the score to 8-6.
In the fourth quarter, the Vikings came out strong with a shots by Gans, a goal by McCalister and two goals by Glazier to put Paly up 9-8. With just over five minutes in the game, Glazier assisted Levitan in a goal to give the Vikes a lead of two. However, Burlingame responded with 4:30 left reducing the Viking lead to one.
The Vikings, with some strong defense, sent the ball to Gans who scored with 2:42 left in the game. With an 11-9 lead, the Vikings hoped to close out the game. However, the Panther attack was unable to be stopped scoring three goals, to clinch the win.
“We played hard but we didn’t finish at the end of the fourth quarter,” McCalister said. “We need to make sure we get our ground balls down and that we finish our shots.”
The Vikings next take the field against Sacred Heart on March 18th at 7pm.
