Girls’ lacrosse beat St. Francis after letting the Lancers gain a seven-point lead in the first half. The Vikings played the Lancers in the Santa Clara Valley Athletic League (SCVAL) finals last year, but lost 16-15 in sudden-death triple overtime. In that game, the Vikings were up 9-3 at half, but the Lancers came back for the win. Tonight, the game followed a similar story, but with the roles reversed.

Paly scored first, after Paige Bara (’15) picked the ball up off of the draw and ran it to the goal. After a series of passes, Kristen DeStefano received the ball and put it in the net.

The Vikings then had a couple of blocked shots, but the Lancers really brought up the pressure, and got ahead 4-1. A timeout was called.

Paly committed two fouls in a row after the timeout, and St. Francis scored again. It wasn’t until the Vikings were down 6-1 did they manage to score again. Bara picked up a lose ball and slotted it in, and DeStefano received a pass from Amalia Roth (’15) to get the Vikings to three goals. However, the momentum did not continue, and St. Francis maximized on fouls and executed shots to get its biggest lead of the game, 10-3.

Meredith Kinnaman (’16) blocked a shot, and Paige Anderson (’15) picked up the ball and carried it down the field. The ball was passed to Allie Peery (’15) then to Maya Benatar (’16), and Benatar scored the fourth Viking goal. DeStefano scored next for the Vikings, and the half ended with them down 10-5.

The Vikings took halftime to think about the game and how they could change the game like the Lancers had last year.

“I think it was our coach [Jamie Nesbitt], and she pumped us up” Benatar said.” We played Sacred Heart and played amazing, and knowing that we can come back from anything. And in the finals last year it was 9-2 us at the half, and then they came back and won it.”

Nesbitt also had aspects of the game for the girls to focus on technically.

“She tried to get us pumped and told us little things, but mostly it was about getting the fifty-fifty balls and getting the draws because we were playing a lot of defense,” Anderson said.

The Vikings again scored first in the second half. Not soon after, the Lancers had two players sent off for bad checks. The Vikings cut down on fouls, and took advantage of the fouls they were awarded. The Vikings lessened the Lancers’ lead to only one goal, and a timeout was called.

Kinnaman blocked a shot from St. Francis, and Bara ran with the ball to the St. Francis goal. Ami Drez (’14) was fouled in front of the goal, and then tied up the game. The Lancers retaliated with their last goal by picking off a pass from the Vikings. Benatar then tied up the game with a strong run to goal.

Drez and Benetar both scored again to put the Vikings ahead 13-11. With 2:02 left in the game, Peery brought the ball up the field and passed it to Claire Chevallier (’15). Chevallier was awarded a foul in front of the goal, and made the last goal for the Vikings. The Vikings continued to pass the ball around the Lancers, and the score ended at 14-11.

The end result was always in the eyes of the players, especially keeping in mind the game last year.

“At halftime we were down by five, and my coach had faith the whole time that we were going to come back and we all kind of knew, I think, in our hearts, that we would come back,” Anderson said. “And last year at the championship game, they came back from a huge hole. She said that there’s no better way to prove them wrong than to do it back to them.”

The whole team wanted to make a change on the field and secure the important win.

“Individuals really took it on themselves to win the fifty-fifties and do what they could, the little parts. But the nice part about it was that it wasn’t an individual effort, really, it was all over the field,” Nesbitt said.

The Vikings want to change the way they start games so that they won’t have to come against a large lead. They look to the end of the game as what their whole time on the field should look like.

“I  think that we just played at the end like we know we have the capability of playing,” Benatar said. “We just need to be able to start like that from the beginning every game.”

They will also look to improve on some technical aspects of the game.

“[Nesbitt] talked about safe checks at practice, and really working on our defense and being on body because we got a lot of calls,” Anderson said. “I think we really picked up on the draws, and that helped us end up winning it.”

Paly could face St. Francis again in the SCVAL finals. The team plays next on May 7 at 4 p.m. at Mountain View.