The Paly girls lacrosse team had a rough season, with an overall record of 2-9, they were ranked last place in SCVAL. Despite this, they fought hard and grew as a team.

The team had a new head coach, Kaitlin Chiu, a former player at Paly. “Even though the season was off to a rocky start, coach Kaitlin came in and preserved to give new drills, personalized feedback, and make sure the team was putting in 100% of their effort all the time,” senior Shivey Sanchorawala said. “We had issues finding a coach for JV girls and a lot of people dropping off the team, but coach Kaitlin kept people from getting discouraged. She was not only a great coach but a great hype man.”

Junior Ellie Roth felt the season was a good one.

“I absolutely loved [this season] because the stakes were low due to losing a lot of seniors,” Roth said. “As a result, all the players become really close as friends. Practice became more than just improving at lacrosse because it became an escape from how stressful school was as a junior. We got to listen to our favorite music and enjoy great food at team dinners.”

The season didn’t get off to a good start, as their first game resulted in a 17-1 loss against rival Los Gatos. They would go on to lose their next to games to Gunn 11-5 and Menlo Atherton 19-3. The streak would end when the girls played Wilcox, winning a decisive victory with a score of 16-1. 

 “It was a great team effort all around,” junior Katie Yen had said after the win. “We had great energy and hope to keep this momentum going in our upcoming games.”

 Unfortunately the rest of the season they struggled to keep the momentum from beating Wilcox, losing the rest of their games except for their rematch against Wilcox where they would dominate the Chargers again by a score of 17-2.

The team’s rematch with Wilcox would not be without controversy, as sportsmanship issues arose. 

“I think we went into the game with good intentions, and we knew it wasn’t gonna be a hard game so we wanted to play strategically and try out new plays,” senior Skylar Burnett said. “We knew that with no goalie that would be a challenge, but other players stepped up and got in the cage. There was unsportsmanlike conduct on both sides which lead to them not wanting to shake our hands after the game. But we moved past that and apologized because it was an accident and none of it was intentional. We actually got a letter from CCS thanking us for how we handled the situation.” 

The rising senior class is excited for next year as more players will return. “I’m looking forward to next year when rising senior Tate Hardy returns,” said Ellie Roth.

Despite their record the girls had a good time overall, growing and improving at practice every day. Only losing three seniors, the team has a good core of returning players to build around.