May 11, 2008

Menlo School buckles

down, captures trophy

Co-captains Daly, Haynes lead the way

By Vytas Mazeika / Daily News Staff Writer

Finally, after winning the coveted Peninsula Athletic League girls lacrosse championship Saturday, a well-deserved night off to enjoy the prom.

Menlo School triumphed 12-8 over Leland-San Jose in the title game played at Menlo-Atherton High, reclaiming a trophy the Knights must feel is rightfully theirs.

"Surreal," Menlo co-captain Allie Haynes said. "Like, I'm crying."

"They set a new standard," ninth-year Menlo coach Jen Lee said. "They started dabbling in the theory of practicing outside of practice, which - hello! - makes all the difference in the world."

The long hours of practice showed when needed the most. Less than seven minutes into the second half a healthy four-goal halftime lead was trimmed to 7-6, so Haynes and fellow senior co-captain Julia Daly looked at one another and called a play.

"It got a little too close for comfort, we all think," Daly said.

"We just needed to buckle down and do our thing," Haynes said. "Which we can do."

Like they've done countless times before, Haynes assisted on a Daly goal, the last of her game-high four tallies.

"We feel comfortable with each other, so we decided to take charge," Daly said. "And it worked."

The Chargers never got within a single goal again, as Menlo pulled away with three unanswered goals during a four-minute span late in the second half.

"The last two minutes, I still don't think we relaxed a bit because they were still close," Haynes said. "It was definitely at the end of the horn where it was, 'OK, we can breathe now. We actually won.'"

"It's like a dream coming true," Haynes said.

It was the culmination of a 16-2 season that doesn't even take into account the five wins needed to take the Western States Lacrosse Tournament played at Stanford just over a month ago.

Today Menlo has back what it lost last year when rival Menlo-Atherton beat out the Knights for the PAL championship.

"That was like major fire in their bellies," Lee said. "But curiously enough, we do goal-setting ... and sure, lots of them say win PAL. But it was also so telling me to me that they were thinking about the bigger picture. They were looking beyond the PAL."

Not on Saturday.

Daly scored Menlo's first two goals, with assists from junior Emily McCall and Ginny Miller. More than half of the Knights' goals had an assist attached, highlighting their ability to move the ball on offense.

Sophomore Maggie Brown scored next, quickly followed by Miller's lone goal of the afternoon. Just past the midway point of the first half, Menlo found itself up 4-1.

Familiar names kept showing up on the scoresheet, as Daly scored again with 5:04 to go before halftime, then Brown at the 3:13 mark and Haynes for the first time with 71 seconds left. At the intermission, Menlo led 7-3.

Both Brown and Haynes completed their hat tricks in the second half, with Menlo's final goal courtesy of junior Madi Shove with 3:16 left before the final horn.

Christina Thiry, one of nine seniors, was parked in front of the net for the game, turning away numerous shots.

"My seniors are going to be missed so much," Lee said. "They have molded and led the group so well. They look to each other. Julia is such a finesse player, Allie is so very strong and determined, it's a really combo those two. Liz Daly is so smart as a defender and she has soft hands. The three of those captains, they were awesome."

The rest of the seniors: Emily Willig, Hannah Leone, Kristen Keelin, Caitlin Brown and Sara Madding.



E-mail Vytas Mazeika at vmazeika@dailynewsgroup.com.