The Lady Vikes prevailed over the Saint Francis Lancers 10-9 in a suspenseful comeback that was decided in the last five minutes. The team’s victory propels them into the SCVAL finals.

“The win for the team was extremely well deserved,” Lauren Gargiulo (‘15) said. “We have been working so hard on being the best we could be, and it payed off in the end.”

In the first half, the Vikings struggled to control the draw and maintain possession of the ball. Even with a series of saves from goalie Meredith Kinnaman (‘16), the Lancers still managed to take advantage of their ball control and score four goals in the first 10 minutes. The Vikings were able to regain possession of the ball on subsequent draws and answered with three goals. Even with these responses on attack, the score at the end of the first half was 6-3 for the Lancers.

The Vikings came into the second half strong, controlling the draws and scoring on nearly every offensive drive. With 10:25 left to go in the second half, Gargiulo scored to tie the game 8-8. Both teams put points on the board in the following minutes, making the score 9-9. With about two minutes left in the game, The Vikings again gained possession of the ball, and Gargiulo scored the goal on a crease roll, propelling Paly into the 10-9 win.

“The whole game I had a ton of adrenaline so I just focused on the ball as much as I could,” Gargiulo said. “When I scored the goal I didn’t even realize that we only had a minute left in the game. It was an awesome feeling when everyone congratulated me on my goal, but it was really a team effort.”

The Vikings go on to play Saratoga High School in the SCVAL finals this Saturday, May 17th.