The Granite Hills High girls varsity lacrosse team finished undefeated to capture the Grossmont League championship at 8-0.
In addition, the Eagles are the only undefeated team in San Diego County at 16-0.
Granite Hills, which is ranked 10th in a county-wide poll, has one non-league game remaining at Temecula Chaparral on Friday before heading into the San Diego CIF playoffs next month.
The Granite Hills High girls varsity lacrosse team finished undefeated to capture the Grossmont League championship at 8-0.
In addition, the Eagles are the only undefeated team in San Diego County at 16-0.
Granite Hills, which is ranked 10th in a county-wide poll, has one non-league game remaining at Temecula Chaparral on Friday before heading into the San Diego CIF playoffs next month.
The Eagles, under coach Jose Soto, won the league title for the fifth time in the last six years, finishing undefeated in Grossmont play for the third time in the last four seasons.
Despite the run of success, the Eagles are still fighting for a berth in the Open Division playoffs.
If the playoff committee relies strictly on the power ratings, Granite Hills could end up in the Division I postseason.
The team has played the weakest strength of schedule of all the serious Open contenders but likely sits on or near the Open Division bubble.
The Eagles wrapped up the league banner on Friday by defeating top league contender Helix for the second time this season, 16-8, in the regular season home finale.
Junior Rebekah Hartnett, the team’s leading scorer with 86 total goals this season, scored eight goals in the contest. She scored seven goals in the first meeting against the Highlanders in La Mesa, a 16-3 Eagles’ win.
Helix swept Granite Hills in the regular season last year and also eliminated the Eagles in the quarterfinals of the Division II playoffs.
During Granite Hills’ dominance locally for more than half a decade, the team has yet to advance to the semifinals in the postseason.
All of those appearances were in D2.
Granite has one victory of significance which came midseason at home against Rancho Bernardo, who was ranked in the top ten poll for the first half of the campaign.
Senior Kaylie Newkirk, junior Samantha Shaffer, and Hartnett each had three goals to help defeat the Broncos, signaling the Eagles’ flight into the rankings.
The Eagles posted a dramatic 9-5 non-league victory over Patrick Henry last Wednesday as freshman Mikenna Ruffino scored seven goals.
One of the best games of the year was the Eagles’ 9-7 win on April 11 against Grossmont, but that close game actually worked against the Eagles’ power ranking.
Ruffino led the Eagles with four goals in the win over the Foothillers.
She is second on the team with 49 goals this season.
The Highlanders, meanwhile, are ticketed for a sure top-four seed in the Division II playoffs.
Helix is 5-2 in the Grossmont League and had winning streaks of five and four games during the season led by captains Taylor Ponce, Jade Verri and Sophia Jones.
The Highlanders defeated Grossmont, 7-4, on April 9 in the other key league game of the season at the Hillers’ field, as Jade Brooks scored three goals for the Scotties and teammate Jenna Barclay added two consecutive scores to make it 3-1 Helix.
Bree Aguilar led the Foothillers with three goals.
Grossmont is a likely playoff qualifier in D2, as well.
