For West Ranch High girls lacrosse’s Audra Kim, an assist is worth twice as much as a goal.
But whichever way you break it down mathematically, Kim, an attacker, was key in the Wildcats’ 16-2 win over Valencia High on Tuesday afternoon at Valencia.
Kim scored four goals and had four assists.
“Audra is one of those players that can shoot from far out, shoot from far in, but also she’s willing to give it to all of the players next to her as well,” said West Ranch coach Alexa Winter.
“She always keeps her head up, looks for other people, but if they’re not there, she can always take them in herself.”
The Cats (6-10) surged out to an 11-0 lead by halftime, with attackers finding lanes and weaving through the Vikings defense and toward the net.
“We’ve been working on stutter steps and have been stressing change of speed and stuff for our team, accelerating and when we see space, just staying ‘Yo, you’re open, take it,’” Kim, a UC Davis commit said.
Valencia (6-5), which was operating with a bench shortened by five players due to injuries, adjusted defensively for a jump start on the other side of the half.
The Vikings’ Ashlee Ane dented the scoreboard two minutes and 30 seconds into the second half.
“We identified their two best players and then we try to … give them a little bit of room so we have a chance to catch up to them because they’re really good at stick skills,” Ane said.
Jenny Elliot scored once more for the Vikings, then the Cats’ Bella Gervasi registered a hat trick at the 2:22 mark.
“We were trying to run plays and work on that,” Gervasi said. “…We were just trying to use each other and get to the goal.”
Nine different Wildcats scored goals in the contest. Goalkeeper Audrey Yu had seven saves on nine shots.
“The girls came together today and played as a unit,” Winter said. “The chemistry was there, the communication was there. I loved that there were all these girls scoring that don’t usually score.”
Boys lacrosse
West Ranch 7, Valencia 4
Noah Gervasi led the Wildcats with two goals and one assist.
Adam Doyle also had two goals and Teo Domic had three assists for West Ranch. Jon Matkin, Bryce Hildebrand and Derek Moskal each scored one goal apiece.
The Cats improve to 11-6 overall on the season, while the Vikings are 7-8.
