The Valhalla High School boys lacrosse team ended the 2024 season with a string of meaningful games. The Norsemen hope to do it again this spring.
Seeded fourth in last year’s San Diego Section Division III bracket, Valhalla defeated fifth-seeded Sage Creek, 10-3, in the quarterfinals to advance to meet top-seeded West Hills in an all-East County semifinal contest.
West Hills eliminated the Norsemen by a 16-5 score en route to claiming the division championship with a 17-7 win over the second-seeded San Diego Cavers.
The Wolf Pack finished the 2024 season with an overall 15-6 record and No. 30 ranking among section teams.
Valhalla ended last season 10-9 and is out of the gate this spring with a 10-3 record and No. 35 overall ranking (compared to 38th last year) following a clutch 8-7 non-league win at Bonita Vista on April 23.
Prior to the win over Bonita Vista, the Norsemen defeated Foothills Christian, 16-3, on April 17 and Monte Vista, 17-5, on April 21.
Losses have come to Helix (16-3 on March 24), West Hills (15-5 on March 31) and El Capitan (13-8 on April 15). The setback to Helix snuffed out a fiery 7-0 run by the Norsemen to face off the new season. In fact, both teams entered that high impact clash unbeaten.
Helix, West Hills and Monte Vista join Valhalla in the Grossmont Valley League lineup while Granite Hills, Grossmont, Santana and El Capitan comprise the Grossmont Hills League alignment this season.
Granite Hills (9-5 overall) and Santana (10-7) are the leaders in the Grossmont Hills League while Helix (12-3 overall) is the GVL leader, followed by West Hills (10-8 overall). Granite Hills has defeated Santana twice, 4-3 on March 15 and 5-4 in overtime on April 18.
There are 10 teams participating in conference play this season. For the playoffs, the section will field four divisions: Open Division, Division I, Division II and Division III.
“We’re definitely growing,” VHS coach Isaac Merfalen said. “We didn’t have the team last year to make it to the championship game, but now we have the team to win it this year.”
The Norsemen, currently ranked third in Division III, definitely showed they had the desire to come out on top despite adversity in the win at Bonita Vista. The East County visitors led, 3-2, at halftime on three goals by Trevor Logan.
A pair of defensive mistakes led to a dramatic turnaround on the scoreboard that pushed the hosts ahead 5-4 on the scoreboard. The Norsemen fought back to tie the game, 5-5, and then go in front 6-5 by the end of the third quarter.
The Barons tied the contest, 6-6, on a goal just 11 seconds into the fourth quarter before the Norsemen placed a shot just inside the post to slip ahead, 7-6, with 5:11 to play in regulation. BV’s Damian Nunez scored his fourth goal of the game with 3:35 left to forge a 7-7 standoff between the teams.
That left it up to Diego Morales to net the game-winner with 1:38 to play. Morales scored the final two goals of the game for Valhalla. Logan keyed the Norsemen with four goals while Jared Dabish and Chase Lemieux each scored one goal.
Merfalen called the win over Bonita Vista an upset as the Barons compete at the Division II level along with Helix.
It was also an upset on another note as the Barons were playing with 11 seniors compared to just three for the Norsemen,
“We kept fighting all night with cool heads, sticking to our game plan and trying to eliminate mistakes,” the VHS coach said.
It worked.
Lax Numbers
Valhalla (10-5) sports the top ranking among East County girls teams at No. 24, followed by Granite Hills (8-7) at No. 26, El Capitan (9-5) at No. 30.
There are eight teams in conference play this season.
