In a see-saw game, top-seeded Redondo edged Cate 11-10 in the CIF-SS Northern Division girls lacrosse championship game on Tuesday at Cate.
Julia Denney picked up a loose ball in front of the net and beat goalkeeper Alexx Temena with a low shot for the go-ahead goal with about 2:35 left in regulation.
Cate had a chance to tie the score but a shot from about 6 yards trickled wide of the goal. The Sea Hawks got the ball and ran out the clock to deny the Rams for the second straight year.
The Rams (11-4) will now play for the Southern Section Division 2 title on Saturday at Redondo against either Capistrano Valley or St. Margaret’s. Redondo will play for the Division 1 title.
Temena stopped a penalty shot and Alexis Hill raced up field and scored on a counterattack to give the Rams an 8-6 lead with 13:25 left in the second half.
But Redondo would fight back, getting goals from Ariel Mistuloff and Micayla Kotzbach to tie the score.
Cate’s Brennan Cusack curled around the defense and scored to regain the lead at 9-8, and Lisa Huang beat the Redondo goalie off a nifty assist from Abby Killea to put the Rams ahead 10-8 with 9:40 to go.
Allison Kotzbach pulled the Seahawks even with back-to-back goals.
Temena made a terrific save to keep the score tied, but the Rams couldn’t recover the rebound and the Sea Hawks made them pay for it.
Behind the powerful runs of Hill and Cusack, Cate raced to a 6-3 lead in the first half.
Hill scored six goals and won two draws, while Cusack had two goals, four assists and 10 draw controls. Temena made 16 saves.
“I can’t say that we were robbed by the calls, because we weren’t. We played a great game against a very good team, and we just didn’t finish them off this time.,” said Cate coach Linda Sommers. “The Cate team played their hearts out, and we coaches couldn’t be prouder.”
