On Feb. 14, the Miami Palmetto Senior High Varsity Girls Lacrosse team faced off against Westminster Christian School at home in their first game of the season. Sporting bright pink tights, new uniforms and contagious energy, the girls left the home field with a victorious start to their season and a rejuvenated sense of sisterhood, with six players scoring goals throughout the game.
Senior and Middie Captain Emma Behar kicked Wednesday’s game off on a confident win on the draw and pass to Attack Captain Vittoria Santana, two key players throughout the game. The two set the score to 1:0 early on, with Behar scoring from an assist by Santana.
With WCS leading throughout the first quarter and going into the second with a score of 4:1, PGL made a swift comeback with a three-goal streak toward the end of the second quarter: one free shot by junior defender Orli Clarin and another by freshman middie Sophie Perales, as well as a goal by sophomore defender Samira Moore with an assist by Behar to bring the score to 4:4. Top scorers of the game, Moore, Perales and Behar each finished with two goals.
The comeback triggered a celebration by the sea of pink on the bench: sitting down and rowing their way to a win.
In post-game conversation, Behar describes what factors pushed the team to make the comeback.
“[PGL] kept getting called for eight meters, so that’s how the other team got up so quickly; we kept our composure. We knew we had it; we knew we could win. We just came together as a team and brought the ball down to attack, settled it and then we executed our plays, and that’s how we got so many great goals,” Behar said.
On the defensive side, notable players included senior Defensive Captain Amy-Grace Shapiro with three caused turnovers and two ground balls, Angelina Cutino with two CTOs and senior defender Mackenzie Kavalir, who also put impressive pressure on the WCS attack closer to goal in the second quarter. Shapiro, Clarin and Cutino crashed down into WCS’s top three attacking midfielders on each of their attempts at goal, preventing goals from every direction.
The energy on the field picked up following the three-goal streak.
Going into the third quarter at 4:5, Moore tied the game off a ground ball, later passing to Behar who put the ball in the back of the net and PGL in the lead. The third quarter came with two caused turnovers and one ground ball by Shapiro, two consecutive saves by freshman goalie Sofia Cohn and new scorers putting points on the board: junior, middie and top scorer Alexis Cohen’s goal with an assist by junior Alexis James put the score at 7:5 to close out a high-energy, PGL-favored third quarter.
The fourth quarter solidified PGL’s win over WCS, bringing cheers, chants and celebrations from the sidelines with every ground ball, CTO and goal by a new face on the team. Moore’s caused turnover and pass to James who delivered the ball to Cohen for her second goal of the game set the sideline on pink-flamed fire.
With two minutes remaining, sophomore and attacker Amanda Jones left her mark on the scoreboard setting the game to 9:6. Clarin and Perales followed up with three ground balls, two by the defender and one by the middie, setting up Perales to make the final shot of the game — wrapping up the Valentine’s Day special at a final score of 10:6.
PGL’s comeback begins the season with an exciting win, leaving the field with a promising future — the team faces Key West High School in an away game on Feb. 16.
“We all just knew we were gonna win, and [through] our teamwork and our practices we all have just meshed together so well … Us winning and six people scoring goes to show you how much of a team we really are, and it’s only the beginning, so [the win] super exciting,” Behar said.
