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Sports

Los Alamitos Finishes Third in Inaugural O.C. Girls Lacrosse Invitational

Beckman defeats Coronado in the championship game, Los Alamitos upsets the No. 1 team for third, and Corona del Mar overtakes El Toro in one of the best games of the tournament.

The inaugural O.C. Invitational for girls lacrosse was held Saturday at Beckman High in Irvine, marking a milestone of what most supporters believe is an upward swing in the momentum and credibility of the sport that’s in its fourth year of CIF sanctioning.

The tournament went off with a major hitch. The top girls lacrosse teams from as far north as Danville and south to Coronado competed in Orange County and learned how other teams in the state are progressing in the sport. And for the archives, the Beckman Patriots won the tournament, scoring seven consecutive goals in the second half to pull away from Coronado, 15-9.

The Patriots (5-1) scored a 14-13 victory over La Costa Canyon from San Diego, the 12th ranked team in the state, then defeated top-ranked Monte Vista of Danville, again 14-13, to reach the final. They dominated the second half against Coronado to win going away.

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For Beckman, senior Abby Messmer, junior Kylie Wong and senior Allie Lehner led the Patriots' impressive offensive attack with strong interior passing and scoring, while senior Alyssa Mathes was adept at clearing the ball on defense for the Patriots and helping limit No. 7 Coronado to four shots and two goals late in the second half.

Los Alamitos, ranked No. 1 in Orange County and No. 2 in the state, defeated Monte Vista, 19-11, for third place, and La Costa won the consolation championship game over Foothill, the second-ranked team in the county.

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Corona del Mar, ranked No. 6 in the state, saved its best game of the season for its last game on Saturday the fifth place consolation game against fifth-ranked El Toro. The Sea Queens rallied to score the game-winner with 1:52 remaining on a shot by Rhylie Nese.

“I was hoping it would go in, but I really didn’t see it,” said Nese, who is in her fifth year of lacrosse and one of the senior leaders of the team.

Nese says this year’s team could be the best lacrosse team ever at the school. “A bunch of us started together at the same time and we’ve been pointing to this year,” she said. “I really like being a senior and being a leader of the team. We’ve have a really close team.”

El Toro was the hard-luck team of the tournament, going 0-3. The Chargers narrowly lost to Monte Vista, 12-7, in the opening round, then fell to La Costa Canyon, 12-5. The Chargers came back to give Corona del Mar a tough game but fell short, 13-12.

“We played the No. 1 team [Monte Vista] and held our own. That’s what we wanted to do. Everything else was just gravy,” Chargers coach Scott Craycraft said. “Beckman did a fantastic job with the event, and I think it’s going to grow every year. It’s tough right now going off what teams did last year to know what teams are doing this year, so a tournament like this helps everyone.”

Aly Vislocky, the third-year coach at Corona del Mar, said this year’s team has the potential to be the best she’s had, and tournaments like the O.C. Invitational helps give the girls more experience and the sport more exposure.

“I had 18 girls last year who never had picked up a stick, so to get to this point now is [outstanding],” Vislocky said. “This year, by far, we have come a long ways. We have a good team that gets along and is coming together.”

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