Golden moment for Olympian girls lacrosse team as Division III section champions

After a 10-10 regular season that could have delivered a few more wins with a better bounce of the ball, the Olympian High School girls lacrosse team stared destiny in the face and failed to lose.

The Lady Eagles ran the table in their three San Diego Section playoff games to come out victorious with the Division III championship — the first in program history.

“So excited for the Olympian girls lacrosse program to win this championship!” OHS head coach Keith Quigley gushed. “This team has gotten after it all season. There’s simply no quit in these young ladies.

“We were down by four goals in both the semifinals and the championship game and this team found a way to make two amazing comeback victories. Definitely excited for our senior players to go out like this. They deserve it!”

Second-seeded Olympian (13-10 overall) won the semifinal matchup against third-seeded Mission Bay (16-3) by a dramatic 7-6 score after riding an inspired late rally that saw the team respond from a 6-2 halftime deficit.

The Lady Eagles met top-seeded Tri City Christian (14-3) in last Saturday’s division final, pulling out a history-making 9-7 victory.

Senior Maleah Edwards keyed Olympian, which trailed early 4-0, with four goals while classmate Kirsten Licon scored twice.

Olympian faced off the playoffs with an 13-4 quarterfinal round win over seventh-seeded West Hills (5-13) before engaging Mission Bay in the next round. The Lady Bucs had eliminated sixth-seeded Helix Charter, 14-5, in the other semifinal in a show of force.

Regular season scoring leaders included Licon with 44 points (37 goals, seven assists), sophomore Makalah Stainaker with 40 points (34 goals, six assists), senior Elizabeth Bromley with 38 points (33 goals, five assists), Edwards with 29 points (22 goals, seven assists), senior Jenna Garcia with 26 points (24 goals, two assists), sophomore Ashley Placencia with 22 points (21 goals, one assist) and junior Almira Daplas with 21 points (20 goals, one assist).

Senior Laura Martinez played the bulk of minutes in the net with a 7.1 goals-against average and 0.545 save percentage. She finished 10-9 in the win-loss column.

Olympian finished fourth in the five-team Metro-Mesa League with a 2-6 league record, tied with Mater Dei Catholic and trailing league champion Eastlake (8-0 in league) and co-runners-up San Ysidro and Castle Park, both with 4-4 league records.

Eastlake and San Ysidro also qualified for the section playoffs.

Eastlake (15-4) received the No. 6 seed in the Division II bracket and advanced to the quarterfinals with an 17-6 win over 11th-seeded El Capitan (11-6) before bowing out of the postseason with a 13-5 loss to third-seeded Patrick Henry (13-5).

San Ysidro received the No. 12 seed in the Division II playoffs and ended its season with an 11-8 first-round loss to fifth-seeded Mission Hills (12-5).

Metro-South Bay League champion Bonita Vista (14-7) received the No. 4 seed in the Division III bracket but lost, 12-6, to fifth-seeded El Camino (8-5) in the quarterfinal round.
The South Bay League standings also included Hilltop, Mar Vista, Otay Ranch and Southwest.

Rounding out this year’s section championships, top-seeded Coronado (19-0) defeated second-seeded Cathedral Catholic (14-6) by a score of 16-4 to claim the Open Division title and, so doing, preserved an undefeated season.

Top-seeded Carlsbad (19-4) defeated second-seeded Del Norte (14-5) by a score of 12-4 to capture the Division I crown while No. 1 Rancho Bernardo (17-5) routed second-seeded Canyon Crest Academy (9-13) by a 13-6 count to win the Division II banner.