As the sun set on the Palo Alto High School lacrosse field, the varsity girls’ lacrosse team battled against tough rival Saint Francis, winning 8-6.

The opening whistle blew and Saint Francis quickly gained control of the ball off the faceoff, but it would be Paly’s Charlotte Biffar (‘13) who scored the first goal of the game two minutes in. Saint Francis rallied and started to find rhythm on offense scoring three unanswered goals to take the lead 3-1.

After the Paly timeout the Lady Vikes seemed to find a new groove as Kristen DeStefano (‘14) scored quickly off the restart from an unselfish pass from Genevieve Lucas-Conwell (‘13), closing the deficit to one goal making the score 3-2. Biffar had her second goal of the night off of a penalty to tie up the game 3-3.

Simone Buteau (‘13) kept the Viking momentum going with a dodge and crease goal, to reclaim the lead for the Vikes, 4-3. Saint Francis controlled the faceoffs in the first half but senior goalie Emma Beckstrom (‘13) proved to be key for the Vikings win with a huge game in goal, having many one-on-one saves. When frustrated Saint Francis and provided a morale boost for Paly. Buteau capitalized off of an error by the Saint Francis goalie to end the half 6-5 in Paly’s favor.

The Vikes would continue the momentum into the second half playing great team offense and strong defense holding Saint Francis to only one goal in the entire second half. Paly secured the game after Lucas-Conwell received an outlet pass from Beckstrom and ran the ball all the way down the field to score, making the final score 8-6.

The Vikes will play their next game 6 pm, April 23 at Gunn