Piedmont High School’s girls lacrosse put up a strong fight on March 14, but fell to an excellent Monte Vista team, 9-6 at Witter Field.
The Highlanders fell to 3-2 on the season.
Piedmont got two goals and an assist from Friedie Schickedanz in the first half and took a 5-4 lead into the break. But the Mustangs tightened up their defense, especially against Schickedanz in the second half. Monte Vista scored five consecutive goals before Emily Williamson scored in the fourth quarter for Piedmont.
“We made them change their whole style of defense,” Schickedanz said. “It’s always really satisfying from my position when I go from having one defender to three. That always tells me that I’m doing something right and we’re doing something right as a team.
“In the third quarter, we just weren’t getting the looks that we wanted and they started reading our offense. They were very good at adapting but they were just shutting down our looks in the third quarter and fourth quarter and we weren’t getting the shots that we wanted and their goalie was very good. We just weren’t able to keep the ball long enough.”
The high point of the game for Piedmont came late in the first half. Schickedanz perfectly set up Laurel Bentley in front. Bentley put the ball home with 3.9 seconds left on the clock for that 5-4 lead.
It appeared the Highlanders had the momentum, but it wasn’t so. April Bryant scored on a penalty shot with 6:53 to go in the third quarter to tie the score. Corinne Negrete set up Kathryn Roskovensy with 5:03 remaining in the quarter to give the Mustangs the lead for good. Then, Sophia Sanchez set up Roskovensky with 2:26 left to make it 7-5 heading into the fourth quarter.
Bryant scored again on the first sequence of the fourth quarter and Roskovensky scored with 8:29 to go in the game and suddenly it was 9-5.
Bryant finished with three goals and an assist. Roskovensky had four goals.
“Piedmont did a really good job adjusting to our offense so we had to readjust what we were doing,” Monte Vista coach Sharon Geernaert said. “So we had to go back to the drawing board a little bit. We made a couple of adjustments on what we could control. We had some turnovers that were all fault. We fixed those things and were able to go forward.
Orla Cohen scoops the ball up for Piedmont during a match with Monte Vista on March 14. The Highlanders played well against the Mustangs, but fell 9-6 in the end. (Photo by Damin Esper) 
Piedmont’s Emily Williamson turns toward the net in a nonleague game against Monte Vista at Witter Field. (Photo by Damin Esper).
“Our defense played a really great game. We worked a lot on doubling and man-on and they did a great job. I’m really proud of them and just told them it was one of the best defensive games they’ve done so far.”
Luisa Cole and Hallie Burden also scored goals for the Highlanders. Piedmont initially fell behind 2-0, but really seemed to click in the second quarter.
“In the second quarter, we really kind of locked in on what was going to work for us,” Schickedanz said. “That was our ‘around the goal’ plays and our reading.”
Schickedanz scored one of those with 2:05 to go in the half to tie the score at 4-4 before setting up Bentley.
Ruby Guzdar missed the game for Piedmont.
On March 12, the Highlanders beat host San Rafael, 18-2. Peyton Watson scored four goals and had an assist to lead the way while Bentley, Burden and Chloe Graham each scored three times. Olive Litwin had two goals and two assists while Burden also had two assists. Single goals were scored by Emily Williamson, Mary Schickedanz, and Hailey Marshburn.
Hannah Chamberlain and Mariana Barrios had the goals for San Rafael.
Piedmont is next scheduled to play at Granada on March 15. The Highlanders will then host Las Lomas on March 19.