PALISADES HIGH ROUNDUP

No Stopping Mustangs’ Stampede

No one saw it coming. Not Palisades’ players and certainly not Coach Juliet Mittleman. Leading 7-5 at halftime of Tuesday afternoon’s game against Mira Costa, the Palisades High girls lacrosse team seemed poised to break the game open and win its fourth game of the season. Instead, it was the visiting Mustangs who seized the momentum, scoring six unanswered goals to open the third quarter on their way to a 17-9 victory at Stadium by the Sea. The goals came so fast it was shocking and Palisades never recovered from the early onslaught. Afterwards, Mittleman could hardly find the words to describe what had happened: “It was a total nuclear meltdown. In the first half, defensively we were holding them, we were winning the draws, we were setting up our plays. But in the second half we made unforced errors, they won every draw and we just fell apart.” Emma Carter scored five goals, Lacey Carter had two goals and Sierra Centkowski and Kaitlin Hasenauer each added one for the Dolphins (3-5). Boys’ Lacrosse While the girls are hoping to right the ship, the boys’ varsity continues to roll. The Dolphins increased their winning streak to seven games on Monday with a 15-3 road win at Huntington Park. Palisades has outscored its last seven opponents 80-34. On Friday, Palisades beat host Malibu, 12-11, in overtime’the second time in their current winning streak that the Dolphins have been extended to the extra period. Palisades (9-4) hosts Manual Arts at 5 p.m. Friday at Stadium by the Sea and has a rematch at Malibu on Monday at 4:30 p.m. before finishing the season at home May 1 against New Jewish Community. Softball Five days after trouncing Venice’their biggest win of the season so far’the Dolphins were brought back down to earth in a 11-5 loss to host Westchester. Having lost 8-0 to Venice at Stadium by the Sea in March, Palisades turned the tide on its beach rival last Wednesday, drawing 11 walks against Gondos’ starter Danielle Mestas and cashing in on four Venice errors in a 14-2 win. Palisades (10-5, 6-4) is in third place in the Western League heading into today’s home game against Fairfax. The Dolphins close out the regular season against visiting University next Tuesday. Boys’ Tennis Despite being undefeated against City opponents the Palisades High boys’ tennis team was not seeded No. 1 for the upcoming playoffs. Instead, the Dolphins had to settle for No. 2 behind reigning champion Taft. The Dolphins, who were upset by Taft in the finals last spring, still received a first round bye in the 12-team draw and will host either No. 10 Chatsworth or No. 7 Marshall in the quarterfinals next Wednesday. “I thought we had a strong case for the No. 1 seed but I’m sure they [Taft] got it because they’re the defending champs,” Pali Coach Bud Kling said. “The main difference is that now we’ll probably play [No. 3] Eagle Rock in the semifinals instead of [No. 4] Van Nuys.” Boys’ Volleyball Palisades clinched the Western League championship with Monday’s 25-13, 25-014, 25-22 victory over visiting Fairfax. The Dolphins had 11 aces, with Kene Izuchukwu and Scott Vegas serving three apiece. Ross Lipschultz had three solo blocks in just two games played and Vegas ended a 7-0 run by the Lions with a kill on match point. Henry Conklin turned in the play of the day in the third game, reaching over his head to make a two-handed save when it looked like the point was lost’prompting Pali Coach Chris Forrest to say ‘Great up Henry!’ The Dolphins host University in their league finale today at 3:45 p.m.