The Paly girls’ lacrosse team defeated Gunn with a score of 9-5 in it’s first league game of the season.

The Vikings started off strong with two early goals by Maya Benatar (‘16) to the Titans one goal in the 18th minute of the game. Allie Peery (‘15) then added to Paly’s lead after scoring on a bounce shot.

“It’s always tough to play a fast paced game against Gunn,” Benatar said. “They hold the ball stagnant and that slows the movement on our attack. I think we did a good job of playing strategically and only taking the drive when it was really there.”

With the score at 3-1 Paige Bara (‘15) was awarded an 8 meter shot and executed. The Titans then scored their second goal of the night in the 10th minute which made the score 4-2.

Paly maintained good possession throughout the first half and kept it in the Titan’s defensive third for 3 minutes, but were unable to execute a shot.

“Time and possession were a key part of why we won this game,” Coach Jamie Nesbitt said. “We really focused on making the right decision on attack and really taking care of it.”

Titans scored early in the second half which made it a 1 point game with 22 minutes left to play. The half remained slow moving until Bara brought back the Vikings momentum in the 17th minute and scored on another 8 meter.

Lisa Rogge (‘15) added to Vikings score in the 11th minute and scored in the upper right hand corner of the net. Bara then scored again one minute later and the Titans called a timeout right after.

The game slowed down and the Vikings maintained their domination of the game with key defensive plays by goalie Meredith Kinnaman (‘16).

“You could tell the team had faith in it the entire time and rode on that,” Nesbitt said.

Claire Chevallier (‘15) put another goal in for the Vikings and ripped it from outside the crease. The score was then 8-5 with 4 minutes remaining.

Benatar added to the lead and scored her third goal of the night with :11 seconds remaining.

The clock then ran out and the Vikings celebrated their well earned victory.

The Vikings will go on to play St. Francis of Sacramento on Saturday at 11:00 a.m.