Northwood players head off the field following the awards ceremony Friday. (PHOTOS: Tim Burt, OC Sports Zone).
Northwood’s girls lacrosse team was unable to hold on to a slim lead in the second half Friday afternoon and lost to Glendale 14-8 in the CIF Division 3 final at Fred Kelly Stadium.
It was Glendale’s first CIF title in the sport. Northwood was out to bring home the first CIF championship for the program.
Northwood outscored Glendale 4-2 with an inspired effort in the third quarter and led by a goal before Glendale tied the match 8-8 going into the final quarter.
Glendale (13-5) then outscored the Timberwolves 6-0 in the final stanza.
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“Disappointing of course, but that’s a very good team and they were definitely ready for us,” Northwood Coach Dillon Lewis said after talking to his team. “A couple things, especially that fourth quarter, where we wish we could have done better. I wish I had saved my timeout at the end of the third to maybe reset.
“But I’m so proud of my girls, this is my first year coaching lacrosse and I couldn’t be more proud of the girls that I coached today.”
Northwood (15-9) responded with a big third quarter to take the lead.
Alexis Low had two goals, Lauren Low had one goal and Rebekah Welch had one goal in the quarter to lead the charge.
“We reset during that halftime and I think the girls came out fired up,” Lewis said. “Again, I think that timeout could have reset. But it showed throughout this whole year they’ve been willing to fight. They’ve been willing to come back and show resilience.”
Glendale was able to dominate in the fourth quarter led by Kana Baker who had three goals and Arev Avedian, who had two goals.
“I took over the program in 2006 {as a club sport} and we’ve been hanging around and hanging around,” said Coach Joe Campbell, whose daughters were among the first Southern Callifornia players to compete in the sport when it began as a club sport in 1999.
“We’ve been in the club championship game, this team lost close games in the quarterfinals the last two years, and they came back and they played a really tough game against Oaks Christian and managed to beat them and they’ve done an awesome job.
“These are the nicest kids I have ever coached. We talked about it at halftime, they deserved it. We’re very proud of them. Awesome job by Northwood, they gave me way more than I thought we were going to get from them.”
Glendale moved ahead 3-1 in the first quarter on a goal by Alexa Toledo after a penalty on Northwood. But Northwood stayed close after one quarter on goals by Alexis Low and Paige Kesler. Caitlin Ko and Alexis Low had goals in the second quarter for Northwood.
Lewis and the Timberwolves accepted the runner-up plaque after the match and Lewis reminded his players in a post-game talk they had plenty to be proud of.
The Low sisters, both seniors, led the team throughout the whole push to the finals.
“Northwood is going to miss the Low sisters,” Lewis said. “They’re very good players and they’re great student athletes and they are the definition of student athletes. We are going to miss their leadership and obviously their skill.”
“I thought today’s match was fun, it was really entertaining because it was a close game throughout until the third quarter,” said Alexis Low. “I was really glad to be able to play.”
Low credited the Northwood head coach for a pre-game talk that helped the team.
“Props to my coach for that because in the locker-room he gave a really motivational speech saying how we got this, and it’s a mental game ….. he was a main factor in how we came out really strong and got three goals off the first five minutes of the game and we were able to tie with them and eventually up by one after the half,” she said.
—Tim Burt, OC Sports Zone; timburt@ocsportszone.com
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