Palisades High wins boys’ and girls’ City lacrosse titles
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The dynasty continues for Palisades High lacrosse.
A season that began with uncertainty ended in triumph Wednesday night in Woodland Hills, where the Dolphins outscored El Camino Real 14-5 to capture their 10th City Section boys championship, ninth in 10 years and fifth straight under head coach Dave Bucchino.
Will Fishman scored three goals, Gavin Zuniga and Dylan Wong each added two, and Maddox Walker made eight saves for the top-seeded Dolphins, who had to practice and play games off campus due to the Palisades fire.
“Our goal coming into every year is to win City and keep the streak going, but this year the fire got us fired up and made us even more determined,” said Fishman, a senior headed to Ohio State. “Half the players lost their homes but this is a great way to go out… winning a championship with my best friends.”
It marked the sixth consecutive finals clash between the teams and it was the closest margin in that span mostly because of the reflexes of Royals goalie Brandon De La Rosa, who made 20 saves. El Camino Real scored twice in the first four minutes to grab an early lead. After that it was all Palisades.
Matthew Belden had three goals and Garett Pike scored the other two for host and No. 2-seeded El Camino Real, which was eager to avenge two lopsided league losses during the regular season.
In the first game of Wednesday’s doubleheader, Palisades’ girls squad won its third straight section crown under head coach Dexter O’Connell with a 12-3 victory over El Camino Real. Freshman middie Elexus Ray led the way with nine goals, Emma Yoffe had two and Amanda Wexler added one as the Dolphins claimed their fourth title overall.
“I was on today and my teammates were looking for me,” said Ray, who racked up 17 goals in two playoff contests and finished the season with 113—putting her among the national leaders. “I was aiming for a lot of goals this season, but didn’t think I’d get over 100.”
Sarah Finestone had eight saves to up her season total to 145.
The Dolphins play El Camino Real on Wednesday for City Section lacrosse championships.
Kailani Mercury, Desarae Estana and Taylor Christensen all scored for El Camino Real, which beat Palisades in the 2021 and 2022 finals, but lost to the Dolphins 13-7 in last year’s title game.
Palisades’ boys and girls teams have both made the finals every year since the City sanctioned lacrosse playoffs in 2014 and this is the third straight time the Dolphins have won both the boys and girls titles.
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