On a cold Friday afternoon, the San Dieguito Academy Mustang girls lacrosse team faced the Rancho Bernardo Broncos in the first round of the division one CIF playoffs. The Mustangs came in as a slight favorite, retaining the 6th seed which allowed them to play at home in front of a big supporting crowd. However, the Broncos came away with the 13-6 victory in a physical matchup. The weather was very cold as fans wrapped up in jackets but it clearly did not impede on the intensity of the game as many fouls were called throughout.

The game started out slowly as neither side could break the tie. However, with 16 minutes left in the first half a Broncos player got ahead of the Mustang defense and finished much to the crowd’s dismay to give the Broncos a 1-0 lead.

Although they trailed early, the Mustangs were not discouraged and immediately responded on the next play as senior Mackenzie Haller broke through off the face off and tied the game. The crowd was riled up at the pleasant surprise of the quick goal as the Mustangs were right back in the game. As the Mustangs gained the momentum back, they again struck with 12 minutes left as senior Liana Broyles ran through the entire Broncos defense and finished perfectly into the bottom of the net.

It seemed as if the Mustangs might pull away, but almost exactly as the Mustangs had done, the Broncos tied the game on the next play just seconds after, quieting the crowd. From there, the two teams switched off goals to knot the score at 4-4 including goals by senior Madi Colby and another one by Haller. The final Bronco score came with just 17 seconds left in the half.

The action did not stop as the Broncos took a 5-4 lead just one minute into the second half. Soon after with 20 minutes left, the Broncos scored a great goal as a player ran around the back of the net and swung it in bringing the Bronco crowd to their feet.

From there, the Mustangs really struggled with penalties and could establish no consistency on offense as the Broncos quickly extended their lead to 8-4 with 14 minutes left in the game. The Mustangs only good chance in that time period was strung up by senior Amy Arsenault who fired a powerful shot that just hit the post and went out of bounds. The crowd seemed to feel the game slipping away at that point and tried to cheer the Mustangs on with encouragement.

The fans were soon rewarded as junior Maddie Biehl found space in the Broncos defense and sprinted ahead of them. A Mustangs player saw this and passed it to her and she finished it off with an easy breakaway goal to give the Mustangs some hope. Biehl followed her beautiful goal up with an even better finish off of a Bronco penalty to cut the Bronco lead to 8-6. However, at this point, the Mustangs could not ride the momentum and were unable to get the ball back from the Broncos who scored goal after goal in the closing minutes while essentially wasting time.

The Mustangs attempted to put on pressure but the Broncos were able to expose open gaps and secure the win. Many off the Mustangs players displayed heavy emotion after the game as their great season came to an end, but the crowd gave them a standing ovation acknowledging their effort.