Egad, one hasn’t seen this occur in the past two years.
Midway through the first quarter of Saturday’s CIF San Diego Section Open Division championship, mighty Torrey Pines was being shut out and trailed Coronado by three goals at Scripps Ranch High School.
Collectively, the top-seeded Falcons took a deep breath, regrouped and hit the gas pedal. Less than one minute into the second quarter, the Falcons took the lead and never lost it, beating No. 2 Coronado, 12-9, to win its second consecutive Open Division title and a record seventh overall.
“We went down 3-0, and I think the energy went down at first,” said Laurel Gonzalez, the 2023 Player of the Year who is headed to Johns Hopkins. “But everyone pulled together, and it was strong from there.”
Sydney Stewart (USC) scored five goals for the Falcons (17-4) and finished with a team-high 71 goals. Gonzalez (58 goals) and Alina Hsu (49) each scored twice.
“It feels amazing,” Stewart said. “We’ve been working for this all season. I never doubted my team. Even when we were down, we kept our composure and got it done.”
Torrey Pines coach Kaitlin Doucette, 38, a former NCAA champion at Virginia, won her seventh section title as a coach. As a player at Coronado, Islanders coach Caroline Carlson, 28, won championships in 2011 and 2012. The two coaches are good friends, coach together at Coast Lacrosse, and Doucette used to be Carlson’s coach at West Coast Starz.
“This team is like a whole new level,” Doucette said. “This is the best team I’ve ever coached.”
Coronado sisters Sydney Dunn (sophomore) and Breck Dunn (freshman) scored four goals apiece and tied for the team season scoring title with 66 goals each.
“I’m not surprised,” Carlson said. “They played phenomenal tonight.”
With Sydney opening the scoring and Breck getting the next two, the Islanders (16-4) raced to a 3-0 lead. Torrey Pines stormed back with five consecutive goals to take a 5-3 lead midway through the second quarter. Stewart scored twice. Audrey Davidson, Reese Rohrback and Hsu had the other goals.
Sydney Dunn then tallied twice to tie it 5-5, but Gonzalez (Johns Hopkins) scored just before halftime to make it 6-5.
Gonzalez and Stewart scored again to give the Falcons an 8-5 lead. Another goal each for the Dunn sisters, plus tallies by Hsu and Tatum Bryant made it 10-7 after three quarters.
In the fourth, Stewart scored her fourth goal to give Torrey its biggest lead, 11-7. The Islanders countered with goals by Breck Dunn and Lilah Cade to make it 11-9 with 7:09 to play. Stewart got the last goal with 0:12 left.
Gonzalez finished her amazing career with more than 200 goals and 100 assists. Torrey goalie Camille Samarasinghe faced 27 shots by the Islanders, who also had a 20-4 draw control advantage.
Coronado lost only two games this season to a San Diego County team – Torrey Pines twice. The Falcons were undefeated against county teams.
“It was rough at the end, especially for how hard we worked,” Sydney Dunn said. “But we gave it our all.”
Fallbrook girls win first Division 2 title
Five years ago, the girls lacrosse program at Fallbrook High School was next to nonexistent. That’s when field hockey coach Debbie Berg became the girls lacrosse coach and changed the culture of the team.
From never having made the playoffs, No. 2-seeded Fallbrook won its first San Diego Section championship with a 10-8 win over No. 5 Canyon Crest Academy in the Division 2 final Saturday at Scripps Ranch High School.
In just her third year playing, senior attacker Shea Morgan scored seven goals to lead the Warriors (18-4). Senior Jasmine Uresti, junior Olivia Searle and sophomore Ash Morgan (Shea’s sister) each added a goal. Senior Myah Pack (11 saves) was spectacular in the net. Pack and Uresti will play at George Fox University, and Shea Morgan chose to play club lacrosse at Cal State San Marcos.
“I was really nervous,” Shea Morgan said. “Canyon Crest brought the heat. We had beaten them twice this year, so we knew they’d be coming after us.”
Said Pack: “Most intense game I’ve ever had. The CIF championship is the highest point in all my four years.”
Berg won a 2019 section title in field hockey, and now has one for lacrosse.
“None of the girls had ever played lacrosse until high school” Berg said. “They came from scratch. This is a very special group. They came to me as freshman and sophomores, and three or four years later, we are champions. I feel very blessed.”
How did Berg make the switch to lacrosse? The Internet, she confessed.
Similarly, Canyon Crest (10-11) was 2-18 last year, but coach Holly Austin’s third Ravens team advanced to the 2024 final with wins over No. 4 Point Loma and No. 1 University City. Petra Kozakowski had four goals and Lake Mallery three.
“Last year, our record was so bad, it’s crazy just to be here today,” Kozakowski said. “I’m really proud of how everyone came together and grew together. I love these girls.”
San Ysidro ekes out D3 win
In the lowest-scoring girls lacrosse championship game in section history, No. 3 San Ysidro edged No. 1 Castle Park, 3-2, to win the San Diego Section Division 3 title Saturday at Scripps Ranch High School. The championship was a first for San Ysidro.
The previous low finals record came 363 days ago: El Capitan 6, San Ysidro 2.
“It was really intense, but I did it. We did it as a team,” Cougars goalie Adriana Lopez said.
Lopez had nine saves. Two of those came on point-black shots with 4:06 and 3:15 to play. After the latter, San Ysidro was able to possess the ball nearly the rest of the game.
San Ysidro senior Amaya Moreno and Castle Park junior Kelly Liang exchanged goals in the first 4:28 of the contest. Senior Francine Garcia and junior Evelyn Estrada Ramirez gave the Cougars (17-8) a 3-1 halftime lead. Castle Park junior Lali Ramirez finished the scoring with 3:43 left in the third quarter.
“It feels so surreal,” said Moreno, a 5-foot-2 attack captain. “It feels very rewarding, especially with this being my senior year. I couldn’t have gone out better.”
In his sixth year at San Ysidro, coach Adrian Rodriguez praised his team as well as assistant coach Analucia Rosales, who was a member of the 2023 runner-up squad.
“It feels great,” Rosales said. “I played with most of these girls last year, and they’re awesome.”
This season, Castle Park (15-9) scored 202 goals and sophomore Leilana Roche had 103 of them. The Trojans defeated San Ysidro twice in the Metro Conference, 8-6 and 8-5. Roche was shut out. Goalie Vicky Trujillo’s 8 saves gave them a chance.
“The team played with heart, and they played with grit,” said coach Chris Kryjewski (ninth year). “I’m always proud of them.”
