Sonoma girls win lacrosse title

Sonoma girls upset four top teams in past two weeks to win title|

The Sonoma Thunder girls high school lacrosse team Sunday capped its inaugural season by winning the Northern California Junior Lacrosse Association’s championship game.

The Thunder, trailing 9-4 at halftime against the Morgan Hill Clovers, outscored the Clovers 9-3 in the second half to take a 13-12 win.

The Clovers scored five unanswered goals in the first five minutes. But the Thunder didn’t give up coming back after halftime.

The game-winning goal was scored by Sophia Haeuser, her second of the game, with 58 seconds left on the clock as the Thunder took the lead for the first time in the game.

Thunder goalie Hannah Walton netted 12 saves, keeping the Sonoma team in the game. Natalie Labanowski and Taylor Pieri led the attack with five and three goals respectively. Skye Whitlock, Mary Gallo, and Grace Fragakis each posted one.

In order to get to the championship game, the Thunder, which compiled a 5-8 record in the regular season, upset the top four teams in the league over the past two weeks,

“If you saw this team in February, you would understand how far they’ve come,” said Coach Lou Biaggi. “It was a great day for Sonoma lacrosse. I’m so proud of these girls. They’ve accomplished so much. This is a testiment to their work ethic, to their intestinal fortitude to keep trying regardless of the score, and to the parents who’ve raised these players. A very very special group.”

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