Glendale High girls’ lacrosse falls short in championship-game bid

GLENDALE — Just under nine minutes away from a trip to the USL-SS Lacrosse Championships Los Angeles South Bracket championship match, the Glendale High girls’ lacrosse team hit a snag.

The Pacific League-champion Nitros went scoreless down the stretch while visiting Bay League runner-up Mira Costa scored five straight goals to rally for a 9-8 victory in the divisional semifinals at Moyse Field on Thursday evening.

With the victory, the third-seeded Mustangs (10-8) punched their ticket to Saturday’s bracket final, while No. 2-seeded Glendale capped its season with the program’s deepest postseason run and a 12-6 record.

“We played a great game against a great team and we can’t be upset,” Glendale Coach Joe Campbell said. “Somebody has to win and somebody has to lose. I’m very proud of these girls.

“They should be proud of the legacy they built.”

Glendale didn’t begin to feel the squeeze until Mira Costa’s Hannah Dinielli (game-high four goals) scored with 3:20 left in the contest to bring the visitors within, 8-7.

Two big plays then turned the tide of momentum for the Mustangs over the next 17 seconds.

The first came when Mira Costa won the draw, which was accompanied by a man-advantage with 3:03 remaining when Glendale’s Tamara Balassian received a yellow card.

The Mustangs didn’t waste the opportunity and found the equalizer at 2:51 courtesy of a goal from Ruby Caldwell off an assist from Kayla Sugimoto.

Mira Costa eventually netted the game-winner with 1:29 left on a score from Taylor St. Germain.

“I just tried to get the girls settled down,” said Mira Costa Coach Amanda Cross when asked what her team did to come back. “We had to control the game and get it to a tempo that we were more comfortable with.”

Maybe the biggest deciding factor over the final nine minutes was Mira Costa’s uncanny ability to win draws.

The Mustangs won the final six draws of the contests.

“It’s hard to set up a play, to even call a timeout when you don’t have the ball,” Campbell said.

Prior to the Mustangs’ run, it appeared Glendale was destined to continue what had been a magical year.

The Nitros expanded on a 5-3 halftime lead by scoring three of the first four goals of the second half in taking an 8-4 advantage behind a goal from Maria Cloos with 8:59 left.

“Mira Costa just had more heart than we did at the end,” said Glendale junior goalie Jenina Villabroza, who finished seven saves. “I could have played with more heart. I could have made one more save. This hurts.”

Glendale trailed, 3-1, in the first half before closing out on a 4-0 spurt fueled two goals each from Claire Bernardo and Marina Percastegui (team-high three goals).

Arielle Ruiz added two goals for Glendale.