The Piedmont High School girls lacrosse team fell to Miramonte 15-10 at Witter Field on March 5. The Highlanders fell to 0-4 on the season.
Piedmont was missing starters including Dahlia Osman and Jameson Sanford.
“(Sanford) is one of our top defenders,” coach Carlton Chan said. “We definitely missed her, but we are going to miss players all season. A bunch of girls stepped up, but are they Jameson? No. Are they Dahlia? No.”
Miramonte (3-0) was quick to score, with Lauren Shultz darting down the field and scoring the first goal of the game. They quickly followed up with a pair of goals from Sawyer Bohlig, all within the first two minutes of the match.
“We had to make adjustments. This is a really new defense, and defense is probably the hardest part of the game,” Chan said. “It’s the communication in defense. The girls definitely understand what they are supposed to do, but when things change a little bit, we have to kind of communicate them through what those changes are. Defensively, they ran a lot of switches, and the girls were not calling the switch.”
Peyton Watson then won the jump for the Highlanders, and set things in motion. After a drive down the field by Zoya Schulze, Hallie Burden drew a penalty shot, and was blocked. However, Burden recovered the ball and scored with just over six minutes left in the first quarter, making the score 3-1.
“Zoya stepped up big, running up, clearing that ball,” Chan said.
The Matadors countered, with Mackenzie Pearce scoring, followed by another goal from Shultz, and finally another goal from Pearce.
“We were playing (against) a Northwestern commit (Bohlig), I mean she’s cutting. When she cuts and she gets in front by a foot, you’re no longer on her,” Chan said.
Piedmont’s Kate Tong received a yellow card for unsportsmanlike conduct after collision with Miramonte’s Sofia Ahmady.
Burden scored her second goal for Piedmont with 44 seconds left in the first, and Miramonte scored once more with 10 seconds left to hold a 7-2 lead.
The second quarter started strong for the Highlanders, with Schulze scoring within the first eight seconds. Miramonte countered with another goal, but on the Matadors next possession, Schulze stole the ball, dashed down the field and assisted Watson to her first goal.
Miramonte continued to score throughout the second quarter, with their incredible defense shutting down Piedmont. The half ended 14-4.
The third quarter was by far the slowest, with phenomenal defense from the Highlanders. Schulze, Finley Veltri, Naftalia Segal, and Parmis Karbassi all played key roles in locking down the Matadors.
“By the third quarter, we talked them through it, and they figured it out. First half we lost, second half we won,” Chan said. “They were calling switches instead of chasing. Parmis was guarding the Northwestern commit. Parmis played a heck of a game, and Naftalia is one of our best defenders. Without them, it would have been a lot worse.”
Burden scored the first goal of the third quarter for the Highlanders with four and a half minutes left. She followed up with her fourth and final goal of the game with three minutes left in the quarter to make it 14-6.
Piedmont cranked the heat in the fourth quarter. Highlanders goalkeeper Allie King blocked a deep outside shot before Watson ran the ball down and scored a goal. Within the next minute Watson scored her next goal, and after two more minutes, she scored another.
Miramonte had just one goal in the second half off a penalty shot.
With 36 seconds left in the match, Watson scored one last goal from deep.
“This is only our second full week. We are still trying to figure things out,” Chan said.
The Highlanders next game is against College Park on March 10.