Sea Hawks Hold Off Second-Half Charge, Win 16-12 Over Rival Mira Costa

Redondo Union head lacrosse coach Tom Borgia believes that at the high school level, girls' lacrosse is more of a finesse sport.

His offensively gifted team put on a first half scoring barrage, coming up with twelve goals and hanging on for a 16-12 win despite a late-game surge from Mira Costa Tuesday Night.

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"Mira Costa is vastly improved this year," Redondo Union coach Tom Borgia said. "They are young, but talented, and they gave us a good game today."

The Sea Hawks (10-2, 6-0) kept their perfect Bay League record intact as they continue their pursuit of a third straight league crown.

A back and forth start to the game was waged as both teams were able to find an offensive rhythm.

With less than ten minutes remaining in the first half, Redondo goalie Heather Czech came up with a big save on a free position shot from Carly McGuire.

"I’m more comfortable this year in goal," Czech said. "Last year I was very nervous as a freshman."

From there, the Sea Hawks' offense went to work, adding to a 6-5 lead as Bailey Czech took a pass from Allison Field, found the back of the net and  scored 30 seconds later, doing all of the work on her own.

Talented midfielder Julia Denny then went to work scoring twice more and extending the Sea Hawk lead to 10-5 with 4:31 remaining in the half.

Allison Field would score the final of her four first half goals with 10 seconds remaining with the Sea Hawks comfortably in front at 12-6.

"This was a tiring, fast game. We were back and forth the whole time with lots of running," Field said.

The second half was a different story for the Sea Hawks, as the offense endured a nearly 15-minute scoring drought.

"We played our game in the beginning and got out to a big lead, we have a run and gun type of offense and had a dry spell in the second half," Borgia said.

Mira Costa came alive offensively going on a 4-0 run, cutting a seven-goal deficit to three at 14-11 following a goal from Taylor Pool with 9:09 remaining in the game.

"I started to get a little nervous at the end -- it looked like they might get even closer," sophomore Heather Czech said.

The Sea Hawks' defense, which was without top defender Ally Barry, who was participating in a club volleyball tournament, ratcheted up its intensity and slowed down the Mustangs offense the rest of the way.

"They were fired up and really showed us that we had to step up at the end and hang onto our lead," Field said.

Redondo allowed only one more goal the rest of the way en route to a 16-12 win and sweep of the season series with their rivals.

"Our goals are to win the Bay League, beat Mira Costa (7-5, 6-2) twice and advance as far as we can in the playoffs.  We accomplished one of our goals today and are close to another (Bay League Title)," Borgia said.

Allison Field led the Sea Hawks balanced scoring attack with four goals, followed by Brittany Ross, Denny and Allison Kotzbach who each had three goals; Czech had 9 saves for Redondo.

"This is our biggest rival, and it feels good as a senior to play well and beat them twice this season," Field said.