The Culver City High School lacrosse team, which closes the regular season with two critical home matches, tonight at 6 against Downey High and Thursday at 6 against Beverly Hills High, played a most formidable opponent last Tuesday night. The Centaurs came away with an eye-opening and humbling 14-3 loss to Palos Verdes High, which truly ruled in every aspect of the game.
Palos Verdes won most of the face-offs, was faster, bigger, stronger and more skilled in the fundamentals. They executed more intricate plays on offense, intimidated on defense and hit so hard with their stick checks that they snapped two of the Centaurs’ poles in half.
Though outmatched, Culver battled throughout the game and got on the board with goals by Daniel Alvarez, Andy Campos and Jameson Bartlett. It is this fighting spirit that bodes well for Culver City’s developing program. A loss to a team like Palos Verdes serves as a benchmark for what they can become.
A Different Outcome
On Thursday night, the tables were turned, as the Centaurs traveled to Redondo for a rematch with another league rival. In this game, Culver City dominated. After a relatively uneventful first quarter, the second began with rapid fire goals that continued until the final whistle and a 14-5 victory.
Senior Ricky Giron led the charge with 5 goals, followed by Jameson Bartlett (4 goals, 3 assists). The juniors rounded out the attack: Mair (2 goals, assists) Dupuy (2 goals, assist) and Campos (1 goal). Matthew Gardner and Logan Bratton, the big bodies on defense, did an excellent job of forcing the Redondo attack to the perimeter where they were continually harassed by defenders Josemar Brown and Mauricio Rodriguez.