Six for the Sticks

By STEVE GALLUZZO | Sports Editor

For the sixth straight time and seventh time in eight seasons the Palisades High boys lacrosse team won the City Section crown, beating El Camino Real 19-6 last Thursday night at Stadium by the Sea—and there is no telling when the Dolphins’ dynasty will end.

“What makes this so special is that we actually had a full season,” second-year coach David Bucchino said. “We improved the most on defense and goalie Asher Barnes stood on his head and kept us in so many games. I love the program, we’ve had tremendous support from the community and I definitely want to come back. We not only want to be the best team in the City, our goal is to compete with the [Southern Section] teams as well. That’s why we scheduled 10 nonleague games. They helped prepare us for what was to come.”

Having beaten El Camino Real twice during the regular season—including a 14-1 rout a week prior  to the playoffs, the Dolphins were confident going into the final and quickly took the lead when Henry Hallwell stuffed in a rebound of a shot by Diego Sosa less than two minutes into the contest. Axel Greve and Sosa tallied less than a minute apart to make it 3-0 but the Royals scored twice in the last four minutes of the first quarter to pull to within a goal.

In the second quarter, Palisades shifted to another gear, exploding for seven goals—four in six minutes—to build an insurmountable lead. After ECR’s Aidan Pi interrupted Pali High’s scoring spree, Hallwell got a goal and Dominic Zuniga added two more—the second on a length of the field dash with four seconds left in the half.

Hallwell finished with five goals, Sosa four, Greve three, Grant Gailys and Zuniga two apiece and Will Fishman, Trey Tzung and Roman La Scala one each.

“Winning it means everything,” Sosa said. “I didn’t get to play as a sophomore, but we’ve won City every other year which is great!”