Miramonte crashed the Cougars’ party on Friday, May 15, beating them 19-10 in the first round of the North Coast Section (NCS) playoffs. The match was held at Miramonte.
The teams are familiar foes, having met twice in regular season action. Campolindo took the victory in first matchup, while the Mats won the second meeting.
Sophomore Amanda Moellering said that the team understood Miramonte’s strengths heading into the game. “We knew that we had to be really fast on defense, and that we had to have good midfield transitions,” she said.
Head coach Jessica Hoffschneider said that the team focused primarily on defense for preparation. “We did a lot of practice in the midfield and a lot of practice in defense this week. We worked a lot on clearing the ball out after we made a save,” she said.
The Cougars scored the first goal of the game, only 30 seconds in, but the Matadors bounced back to take a 9-5 lead at halftime.
After a Campolindo goal to make the score 10-6 early in the 2nd half, Miramonte would score the game’s next 5 goals.
A huge blow to the Cougars’ game plan, Mary Hildeburn was ejected after a 2nd yellow card just before the half. As a result, the squad was forced to play a player down for the rest of the game.
Hoffschneider said that the 2 yellow cards on her top player, along with other penalties in the 1st half, were major factors in the outcome of the game. “It was unfortunate because I think that this game would have been a lot closer. I even think that we could have won if we had not had to play a player down. But because we had 4 cards as a team, we had to play a player down for the entire second half,” she said.
Moellering agreed. “I think that it was a really big impact, just because Mary is such a big supporter on the field. She is very encouraging, and one of our best players,” she said.
Hildeburn will be playing lacrosse at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo next year.
The Matadors expanded their lead to 19-8, before Campolindo scored the game’s last 2 goals.
Freshman Liv Lagomarsino said that Miramonte found success with the extra player advantage. “I think that the other team did a really good job driving, and that was kind of tough for us [to stop],” she said.
“We kind of knew how they [Miramonte] worked, but they really brought it out tonight, and played very well,” Lagomarsino said.
The Cougars did have a few highlights.
Lagomarsino scored 3 goals, and racked up 2 assists in the game. She was awarded the “game ball” by Hoffschneider.
Lagomarsino said that her emotional state was a factor in her scoring. “I was really mad, so I channeled that to make me play better. Usually when we are down by a certain amount of goals, I kind of get frustrated. Sometimes that helps me play better,” she said.
Hoffschneider said that Lagomarsino’s excellent awareness led her to her success. “She has great shot placement. She is really smart about when to drive to the goal and knows when to not force it. That is something our team has struggled with all season, and she recognizes when it is a dangerous situation and when she needs to back out,” she said.
The loss was a tough way to finish off the winningest season in program history. Hoffschneider said, “I think that it is incredibly hard to keep your head up when you are down by a lot of points and I think they [the players] are incredible. I am really proud of them for fighting until the end and not giving up.”
Lagomarsino said, “I think that it [the team’s mental toughness] shows that we never quit.”
Moellering agreed, “I think that this shows that our team is very supportive of one another, and that we have a good work ethic.”
The team is already looking ahead to next year.
According to Lagomarsino, the underclassman and the junior varsity (JV) players will help the team in future seasons. “There are a lot of great players on the JV team. Each player on JV has a different skill that they can bring to the team, and I think that they will be really helpful,” she said.
Moellering said that next year’s seniors will bring effective leadership to the team. “I think that we are going to have a good season next year. We have juniors that will be seniors next year that will lead the team really well next year,” she said.
According to Hoffschneider, the program is looking good. “Our former varsity coach Jim McGhee said that he thinks that the future of the program has never been brighter. Our JV team had a great season, and a lot of the girls had never played before, and they still won a majority off their games. The underclassmen on our team are amazing players, so next year I think is going to be a great season,” she said.
Campo finished the season 13-7, winning more games than any other girls’ lacrosse team in school history.
The team also picked up wins against Miramonte and Dougherty Valley, two teams that the Cougars have historically struggled to beat. The team finished third in the Diablo Foothill Athletic League [DFAL] standings, behind Acalanes and Miramonte. Campolindo also qualified for the NCS playoffs this year with their 8-4 record in DFAL match ups.
