The UHS girls lacrosse team defeated Irvine High School 22-6 at home.

The Trojans came out swinging with six unanswered points within the first six minutes. This dominance continued throughout the match with UHS gaining a 15-4 lead at halftime. This went contrary to some sentiments of a slow start coming out of spring break.

UHS had previously defeated Irvine High School with a 21-2 score on Irvine’s home turf, so there were very few worries. UHS was focused on refining their skills for future league matchups, according to senior captain Zoe Saito. 

“We wanted to focus on running and perfecting our plays,” Saito said.

Most of the scores for UHS came off of goals inside the key. Offensive players would circle the goal waiting for a hole to open up. The ball would be passed to a player in that gap, resulting in a score for the Trojans. This strategy was used for the majority of the game with a handful of scores coming off of isolation plays.

The Trojans’ defense was also suffocating. The IHS players had nearly no room to move the ball without being challenged by a Trojan’s stick.

The dominance only continued after halftime with UHS scoring another seven scores finishing off the Vaqueros 22-6. UHS has now increased its winning streak against Irvine to 16 wins.

The best way to visualize the dominance the Trojans had in this game is ball possession. The Vaqueros only held the ball in UHS territory for roughly four minutes in the first half and three minutes in the second half. With 25-minute halves, the Trojans held the ball away from their side for roughly 85% of the match. 

This game was also about spreading the ball, with the leading scorer, junior captain Kelly Tou, saying that “nearly everyone got an opportunity to score.” 11 different players scored and four of them scored a hat trick. 

The Trojans ended up third in league heading into their first round of CIF this week.