A year after winning the San Diego Section Division II girls lacrosse championship, Otay Ranch is back in the winning column. The Lady Mustangs defeated host Bonita Vista, 19-5, on Monday to improve to 10-0 in league play, 11-3 overall.
Otay Ranch has a two game lead on Eastlake and a two-and-a-half game lead on Hilltop with four league games remaining.
The Lady Mustangs are averaging 13 goals per game. The next stop for Otay Ranch will be the section’s Division I playoffs.
Head coach William Dawson said his squad has been preparing for the move up to Division I postseason play all season.
“This year’s team has another year of experience behind it,” Dawson explained. “We’ve played more Division I teams. We’ve got a little more experience; the girls are a little more humble.
“They’re committed to doing everything I want them to do. I haven’t asked them to win all these games but to be competitive, and they’ve done that. We’ve added some Open Division teams from last year, and we’ve competed well.”
The Lady Mustangs are 1-3 in non-league games this season. Otay Ranch defeated Canyon Crest Academy, 6-5, on March 9 and absorbed losses against San Marcos (9-8 on March 6), Cathedral Catholic (22-13 on March 29) and Rancho Bernardo (11-7 on April 3).
Cathedral Catholic is bidding for an Open Division playoff berth this season while both Rancho Bernardo and Canyon Crest could conceivably rematch with Otay Ranch in the Division I playoffs.
Eastlake (8-2 in league, 11-2 overall), Hilltop (7-2 in league, 11-3 overall) and Bonita Vista (5-5 in league, 6-6 overall) also will be competing in this year’s Division I field, so inter-league playoff matchups are also a possibility.
Brooke Greene led the Lady Mustangs with six goals in Monday’s win over the Lady Barons while Bridgette Greene and Kelly Stansel each scored five goals. Leslie Ledesma, Jacky Beas and Shina Aminzai each scored one goal in support of goalkeeper Roxanna Galvan, who finished the game with six saves.
Otay Ranch edged Metro rival Eastlake, 6-5, to win last year’s CIF Division II title. The games have been close on the scoreboard between the teams again this season.
The Lady Mustangs have defeated the Lady Titans by scores of 10-8 and 9-8 this season.
Brooke Greene and Stansel each scored three goals in their team’s latest win over Eastlake on April 10.
“They’re a tough team and always give us a challenge,” Dawson said. “Our girls pulled it out on heart.”
In statistics tabulated through April 5, Brooke Green led the team with 39 goals and 14 assists, followed by Bridgette Greene with 33 goals and 11 assists and Stansel with 20 goals and 12 assists.
Brooke Greene and Bridgette Green led Otay Ranch defensively with 25 and 21 ground balls, respectively.
Dawson said his team is following up on its goals.
“We want to win conference and we’ll worry about the playoffs when we get there,” he said.
This year’s team includes 13 seniors, so motivation to leave a mark at the school is not lacking.
“It felt really good to win (CIF) last year,” Bridgette Greene explained. “We worked hard all the way through the season, so it felt that all the work paid off.
“This year, we lost a lot of starters, a lot of seniors. But we had a lot of juniors on the team last year and we’ve created almost a whole new team … and made it work.”
