Los Alamitos Girls Roll to Third Lacrosse Title in a Row

Second verse, same as the first.

Los Alamitos and Redondo Union met for the second consecutive year for the Division 1 girls lacrosse title. And again, the Griffins proved their dominance in the sport as they humbled the Sea Hawks, 19-5, to capture the US Lacrosse Southern Section Championship Final before an announced crowd of 1,800 at Redondo Union High School.

It was the third Southern Section championship in a row for the Griffins, who have been to the North vs. South finals five consecutive years. They led, 13-1, after the first half and had a 14-point lead before the Sea Hawks scored their second goal of the game, more than 22 minutes after their first goal.

The Griffins (19-3), the No. 2 seed from the South, won 18 out of 26 draws and outshot the North's No. 1 seed, 29-14. Senior attacker Allie Conrad, who will be attending Arizona State in the fall, led her team in scoring with six goals. Conrad finished with 82 goals for the season.

Last year, Los Alamitos crushed Redondo Union, 24-7, in the finals.

“I thought we played a really great game,” said Griffins’ sophomore attacker Julie Crowell, who scored four goals and had two assists. “Last year [against Redondo] we didn’t know what to expect, how good they were. This time we just came out and played Los Al’s game. I’m just excited to win my second straight [title].”

Los Alamitos wasted little time scoring as the defense suffocated the Sea Hawks midfielders and forced them into a dozen unforced errors in the first half. Leading 2-1, Crowell scored three consecutive goals, followed by Conrad with back-to-back goals within nine seconds, then two by senior midfielder Torrey Bailey and Conrad again with three more. A free-position goal by freshman Caitlin Derry with nine seconds left gave the Griffins a 12-goal lead at halftime.

In the second half, early goals by Crowell and junior Lauren Actkinson all but sealed the deal for the Griffins, who narrowly won their third straight Orange County title Wednesday against Santa Margarita, 15-13.

“In the second half we wanted to control the ball and not have to fast-break as much,” said Griffins coach Liz Connelly, who won her first section final in her first year on the job. “There was no point rushing the game when we were up by that much.”

Redondo Union (20-3) scored four straight goals midway through the second half to make it respectable, but the Griffins won all seven draws in the final six minutes and scored the game’s last four goals to punctuate their impressive performance.

“[Redondo] didn’t give up, so you have to give them credit,” Connelly said. “It’s tough to say if this was our best game — the Orange County final was a blast and our game against Beckman (won by Los Al, 24-15) was one of our better ones — but this was pretty good. We just take every game pretty much game by game.”

In Boys Division 1

Foothill 19, Mira Costa 5

Oddly enough, both Division 1 teams from the South won by identical blowout scores and both captured consecutive championships. For the Knights, however, it was their fifth straight Southern Section Championship Final victory.

Top-seeded Foothill (18-4), the No. 3 team in the state, scored five goals within the first eight minutes and led, 13-2, at halftime before Coach Jon Fox began clearing his bench. Senior attackers Cameron Cole (five goals) and Erik Adamson (four goals) led the way, while senior Josh Peterman added three goals and two assists for the Knights, who have never lost an Orange County or Southern Section title game.

The Mustangs, top seeds from the North, finished 16-4.

In Girls Division 2:

St. Margaret’s 17, Cate 14

Emily Boone and four other seniors finished their four-year careers at St. Margaret’s the way they started it, in a Southern Section final, but this time they came away with a victory in Division 2. Boone was the leading scorer with nine goals and draw control specialist Alena Riggs, a junior, added two goals and two assists.

The third-seeded Tartans (11-9), who won the Division 1 title in 2008, led 10-6 at halftime before Cate, the top seed in the North, scored six unanswered goals to make it a two-goal game. But Regan Anderson scored her fifth goal of the game with 3:51 remaining, and sophomore goalie Julia Alvarez made two of her 13 saves in the final minute to preserve the victory.

In Boys Division 2

Mission Viejo 7, Loyola 5

The Diablos (13-8) completed another sweep by Orange County schools Saturday evening with a victory over the Cubs to win their second lacrosse title in the past 48 hours (O.C. was the first) and first Southern Section Championship final.

No team from the Los Angeles area has ever won a boys or girls section title in the five years that lacrosse has been a sanctioned sport