High school lacrosse roundup: Sonoma Academy girls best Windsor

In a fitting ending on Tuesday night, four-year stalwart Sonoma Bates scored the winning goal with two minutes to play on senior night to give the Sonoma Academy girls lacrosse team a 6-5 victory against visiting Windsor.

Bates scored on a free-position shot starting at the 8-meter arc after a Jaguars penalty gave the Coyotes a one-player advantage. Bates took one-step and smashed a hard overhand goal past Windsor goalkeeper Paige Dieckmann.

“Sonoma has been one of our best goal scorers for her four years here so I wasn't surprised she scored,” Sonoma Academy coach Mac Sweeney said.

Windsor (3-3-1, 8-4-1) is in third place in the North Bay League but has lost three in a row. Sonoma Academy (2-4, 4-7) is in fifth place.

The Jaguars led 5-4 with 4:15 to play when Sonoma Academy's Kate Roney tied it after a 30-yard run down the sideline ended with a goal.

“We have a really young team. This was a big confidence booster for us,” Sweeney said. “I saw huge strides in our second-half execution.”

Bates led Sonoma Academy with two goals.

Windsor was led by Ashley McBride with two goals.

“We always play close games with Sonoma Academy,” Windsor coach Kirstin Piotter said. “Our last two shots were shot very poorly right at the goalie and we had a silly penalty that gave them a player advantage at the end.”

Casa Grande 13, Newman 12

After not losing in the NBL regular season for the past three years, the powerhouse Cardinals (5-2, 10-6) lost to the host Gauchos (5-1, 7-1) for the second time this season. The victory pushes Casa Grande into first place and drops Cardinal Newman to second place.

“To beat Cardinal Newman twice, a team that has a history of dominating the NBL, it is quite a thrill,” Casa Grande coach Bob Merwin said. “We were fortunate that the clock ended and we were on top.”

Cardinal Newman led 5-0 just 14 minutes into the game before Casa Grande turned it around.

“Cardinal Newman came ready to play. I think they were upset by their first loss to us. They were fired up,” Merwin said. “But then we started winning some of the draws and we made some personnel adjustments. We go the momentum back.”

Trinity Merwin and Sophia Gardea each had three goals for Casa Grande.

Maddie Foster (four goals), Division I-bound Kasey Braun (three goals) and Mimi Almy (three goals) led Cardinal Newman.

“This is a heartbreaking loss for us. We fought until the very end,” Cardinal Newman coach Wendy Holland said. “The Casa goalie (Ashley Bosch) had a couple of big saves in the end.”

Bosch had eight saves and Cardinal Newman goalie Olivia Almy had 12 saves.

Petaluma 11, Rancho Cotate 5

The host fourth-place Trojans (4-3, 9-3) won after a sluggish start against the last-place Cougars (0-7, 1-9).

“I think because it was senior night my girls were nervous. Rancho came out pretty strong in the first half. They are a physical team in general,” Petaluma coach Sarah Shada said. “By the second half everything was clicking for us. Our passes were connecting.”

Liz Manka led Petaluma with three goals.

In boys action:

Casa Grande 16, Cardinal Newman 4

The host Cardinals (3-11, 2-4) got swamped early and trailed 9-0 after the first quarter as the second-place Gauchos (4-2, 15-3) came out offensive-minded.

“We couldn't control the face-offs or Casa's off-ball cutters,” Cardinal Newman coach Joel Holland said. “On the offensive side, we didn't take advantage of our opportunities.”

John Grant led Cardinal Newman with two goals.