The562’s coverage of Long Beach Wilson Athletics is sponsored by Joel Bitonio, Class of 2009.
It was a back-and-forth battle Tuesday night as Wilson and Downey battled in a Moore League girls’ lacrosse clash.
After Downey stormed out to a 3-0 lead, Wilson clawed their way back to tie the game at 3 after the first period.
The Vikings then charged back after trailing 6-4 to outscore the Bruins 6-1 in the second half to defeat Wilson 10-7 to snap the Bruins’ undefeated league run. Wilson is still in first place in the Moore League with one game left.
“What an incredible game,” Wilson coach Vic Escoto said. “Every time we go against Downey everyone says ‘How are they going to be this year?’ and I go ‘I’ll tell you at halftime.’ You just never know what to expect. These games are like onions, they have a ton of layers, there’s four quarters to be played.”
Using their field in the midfield, Downey used Alyssa Jimenez and Larissa Garcia to keep the Bruin defense on their heels as they jumped to their early lead.
However, Wilson was able to slow down the Vikings’ attack and went on the offensive as Mia Romero, Megan Ligenza and Hazel Zernich each scored to tie the game at 3 after the first quarter.
Ligenza had the hot hand in the second quarter as she scored two more times to push Wilson’s lead to 6-4 at halftime.
For the next half of play, Downey’s defense locked in as they held the Bruins scoreless and Jimenez and Garcia went to work to tie the game and give the Vikings a 7-6 led.
Mia Yepez led the defense for Downey amassing eight saves.
Ligenza’s fourth goal for the Bruins stopped the Vikings run but wasn’t enough as the Bruins couldn’t mount the comeback.
