MISSION VIEJO – Los Alamitos' girls lacrosse team added another trophy to its collection Saturday, defeating Palos Verdes, 19-9, to capture the U.S. Lacrosse Division 1 Southern Section championship.

The Griffins, who won their fourth consecutive county title on Wednesday, earned their fourth consecutive Southern Section crown.

“We came out in the first half and did really well,” Los Alamitos Coach Liz Connelly said. “The girls played their hearts out and they won the draw controls which is what we said, ‘possession wins the game.’ They did that, they worked their butts off.

“It’s awesome. We’re pretty focused, game by game, year by year."

Los Alamitos (18-2) was led by Keaton Otake, who scored four goals and Jenny Lange, who had three goals. Julie Crowell and Bailey Brannon each added two goals for the Griffins. Becca Golding scored five goals to lead Palos Verdes (15-3).

Los Alamitos didn't have its usual lineup when it took the field for the start of the game.

Many of the Griffins' starters were benched for the first half for disciplinary reasons. Connelly did not indicate what happened, but said she and school administrators made the decision.

Los Alamitos players were not allowed to talk to the media after the game.

Most of the starters were on the field in the second half.

“They broke the rules, so when you break the rules, you pay the consequence,” Connelly said. “Yesterday they broke my rules and today they sat out the first half. I establish expectations at the beginning.”

Los Alamitos showed its depth at the start. Brannon and Jenny Lange had two goals each in the opening 10 minutes, helping the Griffins jump to a 7-2 lead with 13:37 left in the first half.

Los Alamitos led at halftime, 8-5, and moved out to a 16-6 lead with 9:10 remaining in the game.

“I’ve been saying it all year that we have 24 girls who are top players in this county, and today we were lucky enough to pull up (from lower-level teams) five more, so we made it 29 awesome players who got to play today,” Connelly said.

ALISO VIEJO – Los Alamitos' girls lacrosse players had to be reminded by their coach to have some fun Saturday in a U.S. Lacrosse Division 1 South semifinal match against Santa Margarita.

The top-seeded Griffins took the advice of Coach Liz Connelly, breaking open a close match at halftime to defeat No. 4 Santa Margarita, 11-8, at Aliso Niguel.

Los Alamitos (16-2) will be out to win its fourth consecutive county title when it meets Corona del Mar on Wednesday at 5 p.m. at Dana Hills.

The Griffins were a little tight at the start of Saturday's match, Connelly said.

"Santa Margarita played us tough, but at halftime we busted open a bag of gummi bears, kicked back a little and started having fun," Connelly said. "You never want to have to remind your team that it's fun, but it's refreshing when you remind them how fun this game is and why we play it."

The Griffins, who had a 6-5 lead at halftime, definitely had more fun in the second half.

Los Alamitos scored five consecutive goals within the first 10 minutes of the second half to break open the match and move on to Wednesday's final.

"I don't care about records or history, I care about this team," Connelly said. "It wouldn't have mattered if it were a consolation prize. I would want to win."

Grace Schmidt-Beck led Los Alamitos with six goals and Julie Crowell scored two goals, but Connelly said all of the starters contributed.

"We have 24 big guns, that's why we're good," Connelly said. "These girls work so hard, the girls who don't see the field are still probably starters on every other team in the county."

The defense was also solid, led by Sophia Aragon, Katrina Moretta and Devynn Turk.

"They are relentless on the field," Connelly said. "They hold it down."

Goalkeeper Emily Alpaugh had eight saves for the Griffins.

Santa Margarita, which finished 12-5 under first-year coach Artie Spruill, put up a battle. Adrienne Anderson scored five goals and Lena Huebscher added three goals.

"We knew going in it was going to be a tough battle," Spruill said. "We were excited to be here and the girls played their hearts out, so that's all I ever ask of them, so I'm excited."

Leading the way was Anderson, who tried to help the Eagles rally when she scored with 56 seconds left to cut the lead to three.

"She did a great job, she did what she could today," Spruill said. "They were double- and triple-teaming her and she still did her best."

Los Alamitos hopes to keep rolling Wednesday and get a shot at a fourth Southern California crown next weekend.

"I think we worked hard all season just to get this far," Crowell said. "These are the two weeks we worked the hardest for. We came out a little flat today, but we had a nice little pump-up speech (at halftime) by our coach and pulled it together and pulled it off."