Los Alamitos survives challenge, retains South title

MISSION VIEJO – The Los Alamitos girls lacrosse team held off Santa Margarita's upset bid to capture a 15-13 victory in the U.S. Lacrosse Division 1 South final Wednesday evening at Mission Viejo.

No. 2 seeded Los Alamitos (18-3) moves on to the Southern Section finals Saturday at 12:45 p.m. against host Redondo Union, the North Division champion.

Los Alamitos was challenged by No. 5 seeded Santa Margarita, which was making its first trip in the finals. But the Griffins, behind Julie Crowell (seven goals) and Melissa Hastie and Allie Conrad (three goals each), had too much firepower.

It marked the third consecutive division title for Los Alamitos, which includes a number of first-year players.

"They kept pushing," Los Alamitos coach Liz Connelly said. "When it comes down to it, the driving force for our team all year has been the hunger to win it and we have a bunch of girls who haven't had much experience on the varsity team."

"We worked so hard, every single day."

Santa Margarita (15-5) bounced back from a 7-4 deficit to take 11-10 lead with 12:14 left when Adrienne Anderson scored one of her five goals.

But Los Alamitos scored five consecutive goals, including one by Conrad with 5:42 left, to take a 15-11 lead and regain control.

"I have a lot of confidence in our team," Connelly said.

Santa Margarita, the surprise team in the playoffs, was hoping to pull off one more upset.

"I think we needed five more minutes," Eagles coach Cressita Bowman said. "The girls have been working hard, they didn't quit. We knew Los Al was a tough team and we knew what they were capable of. They've been champs for a reason."

The Eagles earned the respect of Los Alamitos.

"They came out of nowhere, we were expecting to play Foothill," Crowell said. "And we met them and they were a really hard challenge. I was freaking out for a while, but we persevered through it and just played Los Al's game."

Santa Margarita also got strong performances from Madelin Williams and Bree Richards, who scored two goals each. Goalie Sarah Talbot had seven saves.

Los Al goalie Emily Alpaugh made 12 saves, including some key ones late.

Contact the writer: tburt@ocregister.com