Girls lacrosse playoffs: Royal, Westlake advance to CIF-SS Division 2 quarterfinals
The Royal High girls lacrosse team is playing with Harmony in the postseason.
Junior Harmony Hall controlled the overtime draw and fed sophomore Morgan Arrasmith for the game-winning goal in overtime as the Highlanders pulled off their second straight playoff upset on the road, 15-14, at Dos Pueblos on Thursday night in the CIF-Southern Section Division 2 first round.
Hall had three goals, seven assists and 11 ground balls as Royal earned the right to host a playoff game.
“We’re showing we deserve to be here,” said Royal head coach Cathe Utterback said. “It’s very exciting.”
Royal (10-7) will host top-seeded Mater Dei (11-6) on Saturday night in the quarterfinals. The opening draw is scheduled for 5:30 p.m.
Arrasmith finished with five goals and one assist, freshman midfielder Amanda Borg had five goals and two assists and junior midfielder Hayden Kelly had two assists and six ground balls as Royal avenged a wild 26-25 loss to Dos Pueblos in Goleta on March 10.
“We definitely wanted a rematch and we got it,” Utterback said.
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Protected by defenders Katie Guardado and Haley Wise, goalie Maddie Nutter made eight saves.
“She’s made some timely saves in both playoff games,” Utterback said.
Tied 13-13 ahead of the sudden-death overtime, Royal stuck to its game plan.
“We kept them calm and had a couple deep breaths,” Utterback said. “Our whole focus was getting position of the draw.”
Hall scooped up the draw off the ground, pulled the ball out after Dos Pueblos ran three players at her and found Arrasmith for the finish.
“They had three, four defenders on Harmony the entire time,” Utterback said. “Harmony set her up beautifully.”
Division 2
Westlake 14, Irvine-Beckman 12: Bella Malouf had seven goals and two assists and Ava Garaway made seven saves as the Warriors scored the last six goals of the game to climb out of a 12-8 second-half hole.
Taylor Perry had two goals and an assist, Caroline Lyman and Jasmine Poppinga scored two goals apiece and Maria Coleman added a goal for the Warriors.
The fight back started with defenders Gemma Dutcher, Cailyn Conahan and Nicki-Jean Henderson recovering possession. Beckham did not score for the final 22:13.
“The defense really did their job and the offense capitalized,” head coach Mart Dutcher said.
Westlake (11-6) will host Murrieta Mesa (18-1) in Saturday’s quarterfinals. The opening draw is scheduled for 6:15 p.m.
Division 3
El Segundo 18, Simi Valley 8: Senior Syd Moller scored 10 goals as visiting El Segundo ended the Pioneers season at 11-8.
Joe Curley covers lacrosse for The Star. He can be reached at joe.curley@vcstar.com. For more coverage of local high school sports, follow @vcspreps on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram.
This article originally appeared on Ventura County Star: Girls lacrosse: Hall and Arrasmith combine for OT winner for Royal
