After a three-day road trip to the Bay Area, that included tours of college campuses
and two tune-up games, the Culver City High School lacrosse team returned to Southern California this week to face a league rival, the Normans of Beverly Hills.
In a game marked by frequent Culver City turnovers, especially in transition trying to clear the ball, Beverly Hills took full advantage, outscoring the Centaurs, 11-6. There were some bright spots for Culver despite the loss. Junior Carl Smith (2 goals, assists) and senior Jamison Bartlett (1 goal) played some tenacious midfield. They kept the Centaur offense in the zone and set up goals and assists by Daniel Alvarez, Austin Dupuy, and Scrappy Mair.
On Wednesday afternoon, the Centaurs traveled to Windward for a follow-up to last week’s match. This time Windward made adjustments on offense and quickly scored four goals in the opening quarter.
After clearing the cobwebs, the Culver High defense stepped up. Led by the harassing play of Menelik Tefari, who created turnovers, and, along with seniors Logan Bratton and Mauricio Rodriguez, handed possession back to the offense. Junior Marc Narrie took charge from the point-scoring twice and set up his teammates for a multi-goal bonanza.
Dupuy (4 goals), Smith (3 goals), Alvarez (2 goals) and Mair (1 goal) all contributed to a 12-5 victory.
The Centaurs returned home last night to face a young varsity squad from New Community Jewish High School.
The Jaguars fought valiantly but were no match for the more experienced Culver High team and fell to the Centaurs, 16-0.
In fairness, the New Community Jewish High School team appeared to have lost some starters from last season. They look to be rebuilding the program. Along with the usual scoring suspects for Culver High, senior Ricky Giron and junior John Madden each had a goal.
