Sacred Heart Prep girls' lacrosse team to play for Central Coast Section title

This is the first year the CCS has hosted lacrosse championships and the Lady Gators would like to join their male counterparts atop the CCS history list.

“We’ve extended the season a month. Our boys just won [Monday]. It would be great to finish this off,” said SHP head coach Wendy Kridel.

SHP will host either No. 2 St. Francis or No. 3 Mitty in the championship game Thursday at a time to be determined.

The Gators may be the top seed in the tournament, but you will get an argument from St. Ignatius fans about which team is really the best in CCS. The Wildcats beat SHP is all three head-to-head meetings this season. Since St. Ignatius did not participate in the West Bay Athletic League schedule this season because of COVID precautions, it was not eligible to play in the CCS tournament.

But the Gators can only play who is put in front of them and Los Gatos found out what 11 other teams found out this year — SHP is pretty darn good as the Gators lit up the scoreboard early and often Tuesday. They built a 12-2 lead at halftime before throttling things back in the second half to post the win.

Jenna Gibbons was the engine that made the SHP machine go — starting at the midfield faceoff circle where she completely dominated the Wildcats in giving the Gators instant offense.

Gibbons wasn’t content to just start the offense, she was the Gators best finisher as well, notching four goals. She also added a pair of assists.

“Before today, she controlled 109 draws, averaging about eight per game,” Kridel said. “Today, she had 10 by herself. [Los Gatos] had five as a team.

“[Winning draws is] the most critical thing. It just kills teams.”

But as has been the case all season, Gibbons got plenty of help. Ava Shenk had three goals and three assists, Emily Leschin and Ellie Noto both notched three goals, as well, while Kalista Hurel added a pair. In total, seven Gators scored.

“Today Ava had a fantastic game. She was stepping up,” Kridel said.

Shenk set up behind the goal in the first 15 minutes of the first half, assuming a Wayne Gretzky role of finding teammates out front for shots and goals.

After helping others, she decided to help herself, stepping out from behind the goal, working her way to the front and putting the ball away three times.

“Ava was on fire early in the game,” Kridel said.

Noto and Leschin patrolled the perimeter, making long runs from midfield to start the offense and bobbing and weaving into dangerous spots on the attack.

SHP took an early 2-0 lead before Los Gatos got on the board on a goal from Samantha Elliott. When she scored her second goal of the game, five minutes later, the Gators led 7-2, who then closed out the half on a 5-0 run.

In the second half, SHP spent most of their offensive possessions just cycling the offense so as not to run up the score, but the Gators did find the back three more times for a 15-2 advantage.

But then there were some minutes that got Kridel’s attention as Los Gatos scored four unanswered goals, the final three coming after winning the midfield draws.

To Kridel, it showed the Gators lack of sharpness from not getting the right amount of practice.

Like every other school, space was a premium this spring as several teams would have to share facilities. As such, Kridel said her team did not get a lot of full-field practice. So while their Gators’ half-field offense looked sharp Tuesday, Kridel was concerned with her team moving from offense to defense.

“Everything in tight looks good,” Kridel said. “But there were some lapses in our defensive transitions.”