Junior Julien Salah possesses the ball and makes a run down field.

The varsity lacrosse team (2-9-0) captured its first home win of the season against Woodside Priory (0-6-0) on Thursday, April 22. Although cut close by Priory’s scoring streak in the second half, the team managed to pull ahead with a 5-4 victory.

Starting off the first quarter with an early top-left snipe scored by attackman senior Zack Winters, the Eagles began their lead.

With a strong defensive effort and sideline encouragement, the Eagles were able to increase their lead in the first quarter with another goal scored by Zack, putting them ahead 2-0. Senior Dillon Christine’s defense on the crease however, proved vital to the Eagles’ shut-out coming out of the first.

Opening up the second quarter, Zack had his third consecutive score assisted by sophomore Matt Manning, giving him his fourth hat-trick of the season. Paired with several offensive highlight plays by senior Josh LaPoll and a great hustle on the defensive end, the Eagles closed the half with a 3-0 lead.

Entering the third quarter with a comfortable lead, the Eagles opened with a bounce-shot goal scored by junior Emilien Fritsch, widening the gap 4-0. When Priory contested the goal to improve the deficit 4-1, however, the Eagles were caught off guard and struggled to mentally stay in the game.

The second half became much more physical, as Priory fought back to make up for the Eagles’ domination in the first.

Giving up another goal in the third made it even more of a defensive struggle for the Eagles, but was soon answered with a score by Emilien, assisted by Matt.

Priory then stepped up its aggressiveness in the fourth quarter to respond with an additional two goals, putting the score at 5-4.

With the Eagles barely holding onto the lead, it took a great defensive effort to prevent it from becoming a tie game. By gaining offensive possession in the last seconds of the game, however, the Eagles were able to play keep-away to hold off Priory and finish with a 5-4 victory and their second win of the season.

“Today was our best defensive team game,” varsity Head Coach Greg Mengis said. “The key to lacrosse is ground balls and we won that war today.”

The Eagles’ first home victory was exciting for all of the players, who were all relieved to finally see their hard work pay off.

“It was a battle the whole game,” Zack said. “We fought [until] the end and we had great offense the first half and great defense the second half.”

Still in its first season, the lacrosse team’s inexperience has made it difficult to do well in its competitive league. After its first home victory however, the Eagles improved their record to 2-9.

“We were very happy to get a win,” Mengis said. “The players came to play and I was happy to see their intensity and hustle. It was definitely a team effort.”

Lacrosse looks forward to its last two games, home versus Palo Alto on Tuesday, May 4 and at Woodside on Thursday, May 6.

“I never thought I would amount to anything in life until I played Los Altos Lacrosse,” Dillon said.