Glendale lacrosse tops La Cañada, wins Pacific League title
GLENDALE — In its eight-year existence, the Glendale High girls’ lacrosse team has achieved plenty of success.
The Nitros have advanced to a U.S. Lacrosse Southern Section L.A. Division II championship match and won a Pacific League championship. Winning another league crown was a goal entering this season for Glendale.
Glendale accomplished that Friday, getting three goals apiece from Rachel Fong and Erika Lopez to earn a 13-3 league win against La Cañada at Moyse Field.
Glendale (15-3, 4-0 in league) won its first league championship since 2014, when it shared the crown with Chaminade.
“It’s awesome to win league and it means a lot to the team and the school,” said Glendale coach Joe Campbell, who started the program. “You put in the time and the work and a lot of good things can happen.
“We thought we had a shot at winning league, but we had to go out there and do it on the field. It’s a small league, so every game is important. Our key players came out today and made a lot of big plays early on.”
Glendale, which tied for second in league last season, held an 11-0 lead at halftime and extended the advantage to 12-0 early in the second half.
Fong and Lopez set the tone for Glendale as they each scored three first-half goals.
“We wanted to win the championship and we knew we had to get out to an early lead,” said Fong, a junior midfielder. “We have a team that’s got a lot of talented players and it started a long time ago with things like conditioning. Things that would help us get better.
“We’ve definitely gotten better each game.”
Fong scored to make it 3-0 with 20:14 remaining in the first half. Fong scored 59 seconds later to extend the lead to 4-0.
Lopez wrapped up the first-half scoring with 1:43 to go to make it 11-0.
Domonique Robinson scored to give the Nitros a 12-0 lead with 21:23 left in the second half.
La Cañada (3-13, 0-4) received a goal from Isabela Echternach to cut the deficit to 12-1 with 12:30 to play.
Glendale got two goals from Xcaret Salvador and one each from Robinson, Zoe Charum, Jasmin Contreras, Allie Massey and Anna Aleksandr.
La Cañada first-year coach Emily Mukai said the Spartans have made strides.
“We’ve gotten better and we’re excited about the future,” Mukai said. “We’re figuring out where we fit and we’ll get a handle on things.
“I have a much better idea of what we need to work on and we’ll get better.”
The Spartans got one goal each from Sophia Tsotras and Erin Buchanan.
Twitter: @TCNCharlesRich
