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Glendale girls’ lacrosse edges past Chadwick in playoff opener

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GLENDALE — As the player with the most playoff experience on the Glendale High girls’ lacrosse team, Jenina Villabrozo looked to provide a calming influence.

The four-year goalkeeper helped the Nitros reach the playoffs for the third straight season. The Nitros looked for Villabrozo to lead the way when they began the U.S. Lacrosse Southern Section Los Angeles Division II playoffs Wednesday.

Villabrozo took care of the business at hand, as she made 14 saves to help fourth-seeded Glendale record a 10-9 win against fifth-seeded Chadwick at Moyse Field.

“I’m used to having to face a lot of shots and make saves,” said Villabrozo, a reigning All-Pacific League selection. “It’s good when you play under pressure and find a way to help your teammates out.

“When you get a lot of work, you try to get in a zone. There’s a feeling of joy and happiness when you can win [a playoff match].”

Glendale (4-12) will face top-seeded Valencia Valencia or eighth-seeded Westridge on Friday at a time and location to be determined. The Nitros, who reached the Division I quarterfinals last season, finished third in the Pacific League behind Chaminade and Crescenta Valley.

Glendale also received a balanced scoring attack, receiving two goals apiece from Erika Lopez, Xcaret Salvador, Lily Barker and Ismillea Leiva to turn back Chadwick (7-4).

Lopez scored the winning goal with 5:33 remaining in the second half to give the Nitros a 10-7 advantage before the Dolphins mounted a late comeback bid.

“It was a fun game that kept going back and forth,” said Lopez, who opened the scoring 43 seconds into the match. “We’d go up and they came back, so we had to just stay with it.

“If we gave up a goal, we didn’t let it bother us and we just had to come back.”

Alex Newton scored with 4:06 remaining in the second half to pull the Dolphins to within 10-8. Newton than scored with 29 seconds left. The Dolphins had an opportunity to tie it, but a shot went wide of the left post.

Glendale raced to a 4-0 lead, getting one goal each from Salvador, Barker, Leiva and Lopez in a 12-minute stretch. Chadwick responded with three straight goals, including one from Hannah Harris to pull to within 4-3 with 3:02 left in the first half.

Barker made it 5-3 with 1:01 to go in the opening half before Chadwick’s Maddy Kerr closed out the half with a goal with 12 seconds left.

Chadwick tied it at 5 just 45 seconds into the second half.

Then Aura Vivar and Leiva scored 90 seconds apart to give the Nitros a 7-5 lead.

Glendale’s Tess Walker made it 8-6 with 9:47 remaining. Salvador scored to extend the lead to 9-6 nearly two minutes later.

Glendale Coach Joe Campbell said playing a tough nonleague schedule against teams from Los Angeles, Orange and Ventura counties left the Nitros battle tested.

“You go out and play top-notch teams and you learn about yourself,” Campbell said. “When you play a tough schedule, you tend to go up against bigger athletes and [Chadwick] had a lot of big players.

“I thought we were able to outplay [Chadwick] throughout most of the match. We got some big efforts, including Jenina in goal. She always comes up with the big saves.”

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