On April 18, Varsity Lacrosse co-captain and Spyglass staff writer Sarah L. ’25 shoots the ball into the net in their game against Heritage Christian, scoring yet another point for Westridge in their 16–3 win. Her teammates rush towards her to tackle and congratulate Sarah as Lacrosse Coach and Human Development Coordinator Emily Mukai calls for a timeout to switch out the playing ball. On it, she marks “100” in honor of Sarah’s 100th goal scored for Westridge lacrosse.

Sarah is the team’s top scorer and is now one of the few players in Westridge history to score 100 goals.

“I was a little overwhelmed in the moment after scoring the goal because all my teammates were cheering and running over, but I was very happy nonetheless,” Sarah said.

Sarah is widely loved on the lacrosse team for her skill and leadership, making her accomplishment exciting for everyone. Players were animatedly counting down the last five goals in anticipation of the 100th. 

Over their shared past three years on Varsity Lacrosse, Theadora H. ’25 has spent a lot of time with and grown closer to Sarah and was the first person to reach Sarah and congratulate her with a hug. She was amazed by Sarah’s accomplishment, saying, “100 goals just blows my mind. That’s crazy!” 

Another of Sarah’s teammates, Keira K. ’26, agreed with Theadora. Keira has played on the Varsity Lacrosse team since freshman year, getting to know Sarah better over the last two years. “I was really happy for her especially since I know how hard she works,” she said.

Furthermore, both Director of Athletics Coach Melanie Horn and Coach Mukai highlighted not only Sarah’s proficiency in scoring but also her great teamwork. Lacrosse is an offense-focused sport, where strong players like Sarah often prioritize scoring their own goals, but Sarah has impressively assisted her teammates’ goals over 50 times. 

“Sometimes you get teams that have one or two really good players that will kind of do all the work, and it’s easy to rack up those goals if you are one of those players. And Sarah’s not just a player that can score goals on her own, but she can also really set other people up for goals as well,” Coach Mukai said.

Coach Horn added that Sarah has a variety of skills beyond offensive play that support her teammates. “[Sarah’s] just an all-around good player,” Coach Horn explained, “She makes her teammates look better. She’s amazing at assists. She does a lot of the draws. And so she’s not just a one-dimensional player, she’s a multi-dimensional player. And it [might sound] a little redundant, but she’s a team player.”

And Sarah’s achievement isn’t the only impressive feat of Lacrosse’s incredibly successful season this year. For the first time ever, lacrosse qualified for CIF playoffs, tying for second with Chadwick in the Prep League and with a record of 5–3.

Coach Horn highly praised the team’s play and their resilience during their CIF game despite challenges like the field’s lights going out. “Of course, we had some amazing goals. And we just didn’t back off…My bias is that it was the best lacrosse game I’ve seen Westridge play. Period.”

This year’s results are a culmination of Coach Mukai and all the players’ hard work and practice learning the sport in the past years. Students have worked diligently to become accustomed to their stick and controlling the ball, especially since Westridge students often have very little or no prior experience playing lacrosse before joining the team. One addition in the past few years to the lacrosse program is the middle school lacrosse team, which has helped more students gain more experience with the sport and focus on the game in high school. 

There are a few players with more experience, who share their experience and inspire their teammates to improve. One example is Sarah, who has been playing lacrosse since second grade. “[Sarah and the team] both reinforce each other. She’s not just the one good player on a team. She’s been able to motivate her teammates to become better players as well. It really is a team sport,” Coach Mukai explained.

Coach Mukai is pleasantly surprised by the team’s success this year and excited to see the result of their hard work. “As a coach, I don’t like to focus too much on the outcomes, I like to focus on what you’re putting into the situation, and we’ve really been putting in a lot over the last three years…I think the outcomes of this season exceeded my expectations, which is always a fun thing. We really have sort of started to play the game how it’s meant to be played.”

More than her 100 goals scored, Sarah is most proud of the team’s success this year after all of their dedication and hard work. “I think reaching this milestone has been a great team effort, and it wouldn’t have been possible without the time everyone puts in every day to learning and growing together,” Sarah said.

Lacrosse’s hard work will hopefully contribute to another successful season next year. Sarah still has one more year playing lacrosse at Westridge to score more goals. Coach Mukai estimates that Sarah will have scored and assisted 200 goals throughout high school, while Coach Horn thinks Sarah may even become the highest-scoring Westridge lacrosse player ever, surpassing the previous Westridge student who scored more than 140 goals (a self-reported statistic).

Next year, Sarah and the Tigers are going for a championship, a goal of hers since freshman year. She wants to see a lacrosse league championship banner up on the gym walls. “At the end of the day, it’s obviously just a banner, but I’d love to see the team’s hard work to be displayed materialistically,” Sarah said. “We’ve grown so immensely as a team, and I’m so happy to have reached CIF playoffs. The achievement just proves the time and effort everyone’s put in, and I’m excited to hopefully advance even further next year.”