In their last game of the season, girls lacrosse went on the road to Mira Costa to battle it out for the Bay League title. Although their renewed energy in the second half allowed them to gain momentum against the Mustangs, they couldn’t come away with the win, losing 15-5.

Going into the game, the Sea Hawks were confident in their ability to beat the Mustangs due to their previous season wins, but Costa’s immediate aggression took them by surprise, according to senior Maya Cozza.

“We were preparing [for] them to come out super strong, because they’ve been preparing for us since we played them. Obviously, they didn’t want to lose to us again, and they really came out hard. I just don’t think we were prepared enough for how much they were going to be physical and how much they were going to do to win,” Cozza said. “So we just kind of fell short on preparing a bit. We were assuming that they were going to play how they always played, but they changed it up, so we were surprised.”

The first quarter immediately went south for Redondo, as their main draw taker had to leave the game with an injury within the first minute of play. Costa took advantage of the injury, scoring multiple goals. But the Sea Hawks were able to capitalize on a few of Costa’s incomplete passes to bring the quarter score to 6-1.

“Costa came out kicking from their first possession, and they were really on it. In the first quarter, they scored four or five goals until we even got one, which was a little scary,” senior Avery Coopman said. “But it never felt like we were out of the game. It never felt like we were playing poorly. It just felt like they were playing better.”

After their rocky first quarter, Redondo were able to focus on slowing the speed of Costa’s attack and opening up more goal opportunities for themselves. A penalty attempt by Cozza to junior Grace Walker resulted in a goal, and, along with their stronger defense, brought the score to 9-2 at halftime.

“One thing that my team does a lot is we take a big, deep breath to just reset. Altogether, we inhale and we hold it and we exhale altogether. That really helps ground us and connect us,” Coopman said. “We like to try to stay connected and grounded and do everything for our teammates. I remember talking about that [during the game]. That was one big point that we always try to stay connected to, just playing for each other, and making the adjustments as we go and trying to stay aware [of each other].”

Going into the second half, the girls’ main goal was to make up the point difference between them and Costa. A goal from sophomore Miller Ginsburgh brought the score to 9-3, but Costa’s continued fouls on Redondo made it difficult for the girls to find a rhythm in the game.

“We knew coming into it they were going to be aggressive because they’ve just always been an aggressive team. I don’t think we were expecting that. It’s just hard to play against a good team, especially if some of the calls aren’t going your way. It can be a little bit discouraging, but at the same time, you want to fight back and try to match the aggression,” Coopman said. “I know I tapped into that mentality a little bit in the fourth quarter. I didn’t want to go down without a fight.”

The fourth quarter was a culmination of Redondo’s improvements throughout the game. Goals from sophomore Mayella Kumprey and junior Sophia Galimi brought the team’s morale up, and the defense stayed strong against a tiring Costa offense, only allowing one goal the entire quarter. The team’s performance, while not ideal, gave them new skills to take away going into CIF.

“It wasn’t our best game, but I think we just need to be a little bit more prepared for teams to take us more seriously because we’ve kind of always been the underdog. But this year, we really stood up and kind of had an outbreak year. Now we’re actually doing really well against good teams,” Cozza said. “I think now we have to prepare for teams to actually take us seriously and want to play their best games against us. We just need to play our best game against those teams now. Before, we were undermining how teams would take us seriously, but I think now we’re on the same paved way as them.”