SHP and Menlo Girls LAX will meet for WBAL Foothill Division Crown

Menlo School gets to play one more girls lacrosse game this season and even that doesn't feel like enough. Imagine how Menlo-Atherton and its 10 seniors feel by watching its season end so abruptly in the semifinals of the West Bay Athletic League playoffs.

The Knights rallied from a two-goal deficit halfway through the second half to edge the Bears 11-10 at home Thursday. 

 

 

The rivals play Saturday at Sequoia High at 1 p.m. for the WBAL Foothill Division title.

That match will be preceded by the WBAL Skyline Division title game between fourth-seeded Woodside and third-seeded Sequoia at 11 a.m.

The Wildcats (10-3-1) upset top-seeded Harker (15-4), 9-6, and Sequoia (9-4) toppled second-seeded Presentation, 5-4.

Palo Alto (9-7) beat Los Altos 8-6, led on offense by Phoebe Kim and Emily Wood. The Vikings meet Los Gatos (13-1) for the SCVAL title at 1 p.m. Saturday in Mountain View.

Like their previous two meetings, Menlo's game with M-A was in doubt until Knights goalie Alyssa Sahami trapped a shot attempt with 40 seconds remaining to play.

"Getting the ball off the draw gave us momentum," Menlo's Charlotte Swisher said. "After awhile we started getting an idea how to attack their zone."

Swisher and most of her fellow seniors have been playing together since the fifth grade and Saturday's championship match takes on a whole new meaning as a result.

"It just makes us want it all that more," Swisher said. "We've lost to Sacred Heart twice and now it's our last game and we want to come out strong."

The lacrosse season ends this weekend for everybody, boys and girls. There's no Central Coast Section tournament for lacrosse mostly because there's no room for it.

The CCS already sponsors 13 spring championships and that doesn't include golf regional play, trials for swimming and track and field or the added divisions for each sport.

"We want more from our season," Swisher said. "It's not enough. It's a bummer because it's all or nothing."

The coaching staffs of the three top WBAL teams include highly experienced people who are committed to growing the sport in the area.

It's an indication they want more too.

Sacred Heart Prep's Wendy Kridel, a member of the USA lacrosse Greater Baltimore Hall of Fame, has been coaching high school in Maryland since 1991 with great success. She's also coached the U.S. U-19 team to international success.

Menlo's Liz Shaeffer came up from USC, which is among the top two programs in California with Stanford.

M-A's Juliet Mittlemann played at Brown and helped establish programs at Pepperdine and UC Santa Barbara. She's in her 12th year as a high school coach and sixth with the Bears.

Because of their commitment to the sport at a club level, lacrosse in the Bay Area has become one of the fastest growing sports.

Players on the field Thursday are a product of that teaching and coaching.

Menlo and M-A both play a fluid offense that employs moves similar to basketball's pick and roll or hockey's movement behind the net. There's also a hint of water polo in passing around the perimeter in an effort to produce openings or draw fouls.

All three schools are sending athletes to college to play lacrosse, including on the East Coast, where lacrosse is close to being a religion.

Neither team led by more than two goals during Thursday's contest, which included four lead changes.

M-A's final lead came when Audrey Koren scored with 8:17 remaining to play. Menlo's Bella Scola responded with a pair of goals within 30 seconds of each other.

Swisher added a goal with 6:35 left, giving the Knights three scores within 1:13 of each other.

All three goals were assisted by Page Wolfenden, who fired precise passes in front of the goal. Something that's sometimes referred to being "crispy with the rock."

"She had so many assists," Swisher said. "She gets it right on the stick."

Wolfenden finished with five assists to go with three goals and five draw controls. Swisher added two goals and seven draw controls. Sophia Scola added three goals. 

Laynie Sheehan scored the first goal of the second half to put Menlo ahead, 6-4.

Koren and Hannah Shaw led the Bears, each with three goals. Lottie Plewman scored twice and Theresa McGannon and Lauren Baker also scored. Sally Norman had two assists.

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