Los Alamitos girls advance to Division I final

SAN JUAN CAPISTRANO – The Los Alamitos girls lacrosse team held off a late rally by Beckman to capture a 13-10 victory in the semifinals of the U.S. Lacrosse South Division I playoffs Saturday afternoon at St. Margaret's.

The defending county and Southern California champions advance into the finals, which will be held Tuesday at 5 p.m. at Laguna Hills. The Griffins will face No. 3 Foothill, which defeated No. 2 El Toro, 16-12, in the other semifinal.

"I think we played really, really well," Los Alamitos coach Meredith Meyran said.

"I'm especially proud of our goalkeeper, Natalie Richards. She was the reason why we won. I'm so proud of everybody and for her (Richards) for stepping up."

Richards had 20 saves, including several in the final two minutes to preserve the victory for top-seeded Los Alamitos (19-0).

Tracy Paulson and Shaina Denny had four goals each, and Julie Crowell added three goals for Los Alamitos, which will be shooting for its second straight title on Tuesday.

"We're excited, we know whoever we play in the finals is going to be a tough match," Meyran said. "We're looking forward to playing a good, hard game and we'll see what happens."

No. 4-seeded Beckman (14-4) was led by Ashley Miller (five goals) and Abbey Messmer (three goals).

Los Alamitos had a 6-3 halftime lead and extended the margin to 12-4 with 16:58 left in the contest.

Beckman made a late run, cutting the lead to 13-10 on a goal by Allie Lehner with 13 seconds left.

However, Amiya Moretta of Los Alamitos won the draw control following the goal and the Griffins ran the clock out.

"The girls have a lot of heart," Beckman coach Tom Messmer said of his team. "At five minutes left, we took a timeout and said, 'nobody's giving up.' The girls just picked it up from there.

"It was a good season. I just want to get better every game. We lost to the No. 2 team in the state by three goals."

Beckman goalkeeper Callie LaFlam had seven saves.

In the other South Division I semifinal:

Foothill 16, El Toro 12: Courtney Valdez scored five goals, Allison Langius had four goals and Danielle Peralta two to lead the Knights (12-2).

"It was a very exciting match," Foothill coach Brian Cross said.  "The competition between Foothill and El Toro, who are both in the Sea View League, is always tough."

Foothill is going back to the finals for the second year in a row. The Knights lost to Los Alamitos in the title match last year.