It was as razor-thin a margin as you could imagine. Leading by one goal, the Piedmont High School girls lacrosse team ran their offense over and over again, circling behind the net, shooting out in front, passing the ball around the perimeter and ending up back behind the net again at the Beach Chalet Fields in San Francisco on May 8.
When the final horn sounded, the Highlanders had a 5-4 victory over Lick-Wilmerding in the second round of the North Coast Section Division 2 playoffs. No. 6 Piedmont advances to the semifinals against an old friend, second-seeded Bishop O’Dowd. That game will be at Bishop O’Dowd on May 13 at 7 p.m.
“They’ve got a really good defense,” Highlanders coach Carlton Chan said of the Tigers. “We have a hard time because we only have three shooters. So three shooters, they can stack that side. At that point, be patient. Find the shot. No shot? Don’t take that shot. Burn clock, burn clock. Because they can’t score either.”
Lick-Wilmerding’s Samantha Sherman (white) runs into a wall of Piedmont defenders (L-R) Naftalia Segal, Sophie Santander and Reni Suhr. 
Reni Suhr (12) runs from Mira Makan (18)
Lick-Wilmerding’s Lilah Wilkinson set up Susie Cahill Rosqueta for a goal just 17 seconds into the fourth quarter. That cut what had once been a 5-1 Piedmont lead to 5-4. The Highlanders got control and spent the next several minutes on offense, circling the Tigers goal. Chan said he did not order an offensive shutdown at that point, just caution based on how well Lick-Wilmerding was playing on defense.
“We were looking for a shot,” Chan said. “They were pressing out really hard. At that point, they’re not looking for us to take a shot. If they’re not looking for us to take a shot, we’re not going to take a shot. At the very least, they should set it up so we can take a shot. But they were actually playing a game where we had to possess. It was their defense that forced us to possess the ball.
“It’s not easy playing an aggressive team that’s constantly trying to pound you.”
“We were trying to get as many goals as we could,” said Peyton Watson, “but then we realize that the defense was pressing out a lot and we couldn’t really get around them. Then we switched over to just trying to hold the ball.”
The teams met in the regular season with Piedmont winning at home, 10-4 on April 1.
Lick-Wilmerding’s Lilah Wilkinson (left) and Piedmont’s Chloe Graham chase down a ball during an NCS playoff game. 
Lick-Wilmerding’s Mira Makan (18) prepares to take a shot on Piedmont goalkeeper Sophie Santander during an NCS playoff game on May 8 at the Beach Chalet Fields in San Francisco.
“Our defense met great adjustments (from the first meeting),” Tigers coach Christine Wilkinson said. “They did a really good job of holding the ball. Having more possessions would have really helped. All in all, they played really hard and it was a good game and they’re a good team.”
Chloe Graham scored the first two goals of the game for the Highlanders, both set up by Friedie Schickedanz.
“Friedie had great drives, so they just looked at her and then I got open,” Graham said. “Friedie always makes great passes so it’s kind of all her. She turns her head, I go in.”
Olive Litwin set up birthday girl Peyton Watson for a goal and Piedmont had a 3-0 lead with six minutes, two seconds to go in the first quarter.
Watson, who turned 17, finished with three goals on the day.
Wilkinson got a goal back with 4:04 left and it was 3-1 at the end of the quarter.
Watson made it 4-1 early in the second quarter, then took a pass from Graham to score with 3:46 left in the first half to make it 5-1.
Rosqueta set up Rebecca Shveyed with just eight seconds left in the half to start the Lick-Wilmerding comeback. Samantha Sherman scored on a penalty shot with 44 seconds left in the third quarter.
This is the first time Piedmont has made the semifinals since winning the NCS Division 2 title in 2019.
“I think it’s really exciting,” Graham said of making the semifinals. “We’ve had a lot of close losses by one goal, so I think it felt really nice to get a one-goal win when it really mattered most.”