Redondo Union Falls to Palisades 10-4 in Boys Lacrosse

PACIFIC PALISADES. — Redondo Union High was unable to carry its momentum from the first half into the second, getting outscored by five goals in the third quarter, and the Sea Hawks on Monday fell to Palisades 10-4 in a boys lacrosse match.

"We collected ourselves after a rough start in the second quarter and I expected that to carry over into the second half, but we didn't come out well and some mental letdowns just compounded," Redondo Coach Phil Comito said.

The Dolphins came out strong, winning most of the early faceoffs and controlling the ball early on. Their crisp offense led to three early goals. Halfway through the first, junior midfielder Taylor Romero got the Sea Hawks on the board with a goal. 

Entering the second period, Palisades continued to control the ball in what was a very physical first half that saw players routinely leaving the field for penalties. The Sea Hawk defense was tested, but held strong with some timely saves from goalie Andrew DeBoer.

Late in the half, Redondo benefited from man-up situations. With 2:46 left in the second quarter, the Sea Hawk's patiently cycled through their offense until senior midfielder Alec Aloni scored on a lengthy shot from the right hash to bring the score to 3-2.

A minute later, Aloni would be called for slashing, and the Sea Hawks faced a flurry of shots from Palisades. Despite furious activity near the crease, DeBoer, a senior, would deflect a series shots in the final 1:30, leaving the Sea Hawks trailing by only one goal.

"Andrew did a good job in the goal, especially in one-on-one situations," Comito said. He had some trouble clearing the ball, but made a lot of nice stops."

The second half belonged to the Dolphins, as they would continue to take advantage of long possessions and the Sea Hawks' inability to clear the ball. The Dolphins showed why they are 10-2 on the season combining a patient offense, and physical play to wear down the Sea Hawks' defense en route to five third quarter goals.

"We talked about how defensively we need to communicate better," Bennett Trotter said.  They played better. Mentally we just made mistakes and our effort needs to be higher."

Palisades would add two more goals during the fourth quarter, giving them a sizeable 10-2 lead, but the Sea Hawks did not quit. Trotter, a senior attacker, would score two goals in the final quarter including a sharp wrist-shot with six seconds remaining in the game.

The Sea Hawks offense was effective, but their lack of possession was the problem.

"We just didn't clear the ball well enough; when we did get to run some plays, we did a good job on scoring opportunities, but we just didn't have the ball enough," Comito said. ''We'll continue to work on it game by game. We can finish this season strong and I expect us to work hard to improve."
 
DeBoer would collect 21 saves on the night, and midfielder Michael Cross had a team-high 9 groundballs.

The Sea Hawks fell to 4-9 on the season, and on Wednesday will host to Beverly Hills. Earlier in the season, Redondo defeated Beverly Hills 16-6.