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Sports

Redondo Teaming Up With Rivals On Club Team

Players from the Sea Hawks' Bay League champion girls lacrosse team team up with players from Mira Costa, Peninsula and El Segundo to form winning combination.

Everyone in the South Bay is aware of the intense rivalry between Mira Costa and Redondo Union high schools. When the Mustangs and Sea Hawks match up, it is the biggest game of the season in every sport, especially football, basketball, softball, volleyball and baseball. If you beat your rival it could make your season, and a lopsided loss will sting for a long time.

In most high school sports, athletes do not have the opportunity to play with their rivals, even during the summer months. But the girls from the Redondo Union and Mira Costa lacrosse teams are playing together on a new club team – PCH - along with girls from Peninsula and El Segundo. 

Redondo coach Erin Garnsey put the team together along with Cherie Michaud, who was a star player at Johns Hopkins, one of the elite college programs in the country. They teamed up last year as coaches for the LA Express in a local summer league but this summer they wanted to play against some tougher competition in Orange County.

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There is a question how well rivals will get along on a summer team, but according to the PCH coaches, it has been a great experience. "Everything is coming together perfectly. It's the way we structured it at the first practice. We set the standards at that practice and told the girls that everything from the past high school season is not relevant to our summer team,'' Michaud said.

After leading Redondo to Bay League titles in 2009 and 2010, Garnsey said she was not sure how the girls from Mira Costa would respond to her. "It has actually been pretty easy,'' she said. ''They are all very respectful that I coach their enemy during the season. They are all good girls and there have been no rivalries or riffs or tiffs."

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The players had the same thoughts as the coaches.

"It was a little bit of a challenge at first playing with Costa and Peninsula girls because they are our enemy during the regular season,'' said Allison Field, one of the top players at Redondo. ''They are really sweet girls once you get to know them and they are good players too. With only one practice a week it is more casual than the regular season so it has been easy to make friends with them."

Heather Czech was Redondo's starting goalie as a freshman last year and it has been easy for her because she doesn't really have a long history of the rivalries.

"I have played with the Costa girls before, during last summer's league, so it's pretty cool,'' she said. ''Everyone gets along fine and there are no rivalries during the summer. This is the time of year to keep your skills up to stay ready for the high school season."

The team has had great success so far, starting off 3-0 against teams from Orange County. Michaud hoped for tougher games. ''We wanted a higher level of competition, but we haven't seen that yet in the games we have played,'' she said. ''We have played Mater Dei twice and were hoping for more variety and tougher games."

Their biggest game of the summer was Tuesday night at Campus El Segundo against the LA Express. There are several Mira Costa players on the Express this year and it set up some interesting match ups. With Mira Costa girls Taylor Pool and Emma Schiewe playing with Redondo girls and for Redondo's coach on PCH, and against their Costa teammates, it had a chance to be a great game. But it turned into another rout for PCH as they won 12-0.

The scoring was spread out with seven PCH players scoring goals. Julia Denney from Redondo and Kaitlyn Hafdell from El Segundo each scored three goals. Schiewe had two goals while Field, Pool, Victoria Lelo from Peninsula and Meesha Robinson from Redondo all scored one goal. The PCH defense played tough all night as the two goalies from Redondo, Czech and Hayley Lane, recorded the first shut out of the season.

"We really don't have any standout players. Everyone is doing their part and playing the roles we give them,'' Michaud said. ''They are playing really well and improving every week. The younger girls are improving a lot."

For Garnsey, it has been a great experience. "We have some older girls and they are helping out the younger girls,'' she said. ''We have 10 to 12 girls that are really good and that's great to see that on the West Coast. It's great to see lacrosse growing and we have some girls with great potential to play in college."

With the rivalries behind them for the summer, the question remains. Which team will win the match ups between Mira Costa and Redondo next spring?

Schiewe, obviously, felt Costa will be back after losing twice to their rival last season. "We have a pretty good incoming freshman class so it should be interesting," she said.

But Field, who has started for Redondo for three years and knows all about the rivalry, had a different take.

"I think we got them next year,'' she said. ''With our undefeated JV girls moving up, we will win. We got them again." 

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