Girls lacrosse falls 8-2 to Hillsdale

On April 11, the Aragon girls varsity lacrosse team (1-13 overall) lost to Hillsdale (7-6 overall) 8-2.

The game started quickly with Hillsdale scoring their first goal two minutes into the first half.

The Dons were able to hold off the Knights for the next few minutes, capitalizing off of ground balls and controlling the ball in their attacking third. However in the fourteenth minute Hillsdale scored their second goal, followed shortly by their third a minute later, and one more just before halftime.

Despite multiple shots on goal, the Dons were unable to score in the first half, going into halftime down 0-4.

At halftime, head coach Ashley Parham reminded the girls what they worked on during practice, having made plays specifically to get past Hillsdale’s defense.

“We knew the plays, we had gone over them at practice, and I just told them that we had to execute,” Parham said. “Overall I was very proud of our defense leading up to half.”

Coming out of halftime, the Knights used their sharp passing to move the ball up the field, resulting in another goal 3 minutes into the half and increasing their lead to 5.

The Dons were finally able to score their first goal seven minutes into the second half, with senior midfielder Lexie Clark breaking through the Knights defense, getting the Dons on the board at 5-1.

But that was as close as Aragon would get, as Hillsdale responded by scoring three more goals in the next fifteen minutes. Then, with one minute left in the game, senior midfielder Geneva Mar was fouled and scored off of an eighth-meter shot, cutting Hillsdale’s lead to six goals.

Despite multiple saves from Aragon’s goalkeeper, senior Deirdre Doyle, Hillsdale scored too many goals for the Dons to overcome, and the Knights won 8-2.

“We did really well compared to the last time we played Hillsdale just because we were more prepared and knew how they played,” said junior attacker Analysa Ossio.

“In all the games we’ve competed in this season, we’ve had close scores in the first half and then we’ve kind of let them slip away from us later on in the game”

The Dons’ last game against Hillsdale was a 2-14 loss. The team is happy with their performance in the rematch as well as the outcome of the game, with Aragon’s defense keeping the Knights under ten goals, their closest loss of the season.

“We played much better defense, did a great job on transitioning the ball up the field and did a lot of little things well, but just weren’t able to get the ball in the net as many times as I hoped we would,” Parham said.

The team continues to work hard for a second season win after multiple losses during the preseason. So far, the team’s only win has been their preseason game against Washington (0-6 overall)* on March 8, which the Dons beat 8-5.

“In all the games we’ve competed in this season, we’ve had close scores in the first half and then we’ve kind of let them slip away from us later on in the game,” Parham said.

One such game was the previous loss against Hillsdale, in which the Dons lost momentum, scoring no goals in the second half. Since then, the team has set goals to increase communication and energy on the field.

“We need to keep our defense strong throughout the whole game,” said senior midfielder Arianna Pascual. “I think we’ll be a much stronger team once we improve our stamina and consistency.”

Parham says that playing against teams with mostly upperclassmen has been hard, especially since 13 out of 23 varsity players on Aragon’s team are underclassmen. To improve on maintaining stamina for the second half, the team tries to get the less experienced players as much practice as possible.

“We’re just trying to play as much as possible,” Parham said. “We’ve been limited in our field time, especially early on with extended soccer seasons. [It’s] been a challenge of getting girls more experienced because we’ve had to fight for access to the fields.

The team has been running hard on the field and lifting in the weight room to improve their stamina and strength.

“Most importantly, I think we need to come off the field knowing we’ve done our best and having no regrets with the amount of effort that we give in our games,” Clark said.

The Dons’ next home game is against Mercy (6-7 overall)* on April 25 at 5:30 p.m.

*Records as of April 17