Gitlin Nets Six in Lacrosse Win

Riley Gitlin said afterwards that scoring is not easy. He sure made it look that way, though, on Monday night against beach rival Malibu at Stadium by the Sea. The Palisades High junior attacker netted six goals to lead the Dolphins’ varsity lacrosse team to a 12-3 rout over the visiting Sharks. “When I first started playing, I was hesitant to shoot,” Gitlin said. “I would always look to pass first. I’ve learned not to be afraid of sticks and to just go for it.” With the victory, Palisades improved to 8-0 and remained ranked in the top 10 in Southern California–not bad for a program in just its second year under coaches Dave Schaller and Scott Hylen. “Overall, I was pleased with the effort tonight,” Schaller said. “We hit numerous pipes and our midfielders got a lot of work. We ran the guys pretty hard in the pre-season and it’s paying off now, especially late in games when conditioning becomes a factor.” After an early Malibu goal was disallowed because the player who scored had used an illegal stick, the Dolphins took the offensive and buzzed around the opponents’ goal. David Lee got Pali on the scoreboard first, bouncing a low, hard shot past Malibu goalie Garrett Eamer off of a pass from Gitlin. Playing with a man advantage, Lee returned the favor moments later, lofting a pass to Gitlin, who scored from just outside the circle. Josh Packer scored three goals and Wyatt Kaufmann added two, but the game belonged to Gitlin. He scored five more times, including three unassisted goals in a four-minute span early in the fourth quarter. Gitlin said he gets his scorer’s mentality from watching a lot of NBA basketball–particularly Los Angeles Lakers star Kobe Bryant. “I watch how Kobe gets open and gets himself in position to shoot and I try to use some of the same techniques,” Gitlin said. “He has some exciting moves.” Palisades hit the road this week for four games in five days, ending with Saturday’s game at Harvard-Westlake.