Peninsula High School's boys varsity lacrosse team kicked off the 2017 campaign with an 18-7 win over Alexander Hamilton High School in a match played in Palos Verdes on February 28.  Hamilton actually took the lead less than two minutes into the match, but the Panthers rallied to tie the score a minute later when Senior Midfielder Will Mbomeda notched the team's first goal of the season.  Peninsula went ahead 2-1 at the 7:30 mark of the first quarter, a lead they would never give up. 
 
Hamilton, a program that has only been in existence for three years, battled through the first quarter and kept the score close at 5-3, but the Panthers were too much for the Yankees, and Peninsula scored 8 of the next 10 goals to run away with the contest. 
 
Senior attackman Kyle Beachboard led the scoring with seven goals, closely followed by senior midfielder Scott Phillips, who put six balls in the net.  Beachboard also had 5 assists (four of them to Phillips), and Phillips had a game high 14 ground balls.  Bryce Kitagawa and Troy Simpkins each scored for the Panthers, as did brother combo Nicco and AJ Rosato.  The defense, led by Kevin Jones, Patrick Slaught, Garrett Moore and goalie Matt Choi, only allowed 4 goals throughout the final three quarters. 
 
The JV Panthers also won their match up 6-1 with goals from Ben Aviel (4), Jon Black (2) and Hector Arnazzi (1).
 
Peninsula next faces Harvard Westlake this Saturday on the road.


On Monday Feb 28th, Peninsula Girls lacrosse started their season with a bang against Beverly Hills when Sophomore Claire Jenness scored a mere 18 seconds after the starting whistle. Senior Skylar Davis followed up 5 minutes later with an unassisted goal which set off a scoring spree of 5 goals in 2 1/2 minutes. The Panthers lead Beverly Hills 10-2 at the end of the 1st half. Nine different Lady Panthers scored including Seniors Skylar Davis (3 goals, 1 assist), Camryn Bush (2 goals), and Megan Webb (4 goals). Juniors Sara Hata & Aoba Ito, Sophomores Isabelle Sarulla, Tia Fidaleo and Freshman Shannon Gibson added 1 more goal each. Substitute goalies Tess Rivera and Shannon Gibson, allowed only 2 and 1 goal each, respectively.  Megan Webb also had at least 6 draw controls. 12 Different players were credited with ground ball pickups, and Shannon Gibson intercepted a Norman pass. Final Score, Panthers 15, Beverly Hills 3.
 
On Wed, March 1, the Lady Panthers traveled to Thousand Oaks. JV was victorious (will get rest of goal scorers ) Sophomores Kalyn Ng, Tia Fidaleo, and Freshman Julia Pinner and the rest of the Panther squad dominated play and had multiple goals to defeat the Lancers 10-3.
 
The Varsity Lady Panthers went up against a strong Thousand Oaks team that scored first, but the Lady Panthers came right back and notched a goal to even the score. TO was able to record 4 more goals before Pen returned fire, bringing the score to 5-3. After that, the Lady Panthers stepped up and answered every Lancer goal the rest of the game. Unfortunately, they were unable to overcome the initial goal deficit. Junior Sara Hata had the Lancer goalkeeper's number with 4 goals. Filling out the scorebook were Seniors Camryn Bush (2), Skylar Davis (1), Megan Webb (1), Juniors Kayla Genato and Clara Deley each added one to the total. 7 different Panthers recorded ground ball pickups and Camryn, Megan, Senior Annie Benedict and Sophomore Riley Christie intercepted Lancer passes. Riley, Megan and Camryn had multiple draw controls. Goalie Alexa Jones recorded 7 saves. Final Score, 10-13. 
 
 



 
In Peninsula's second surf competition with PV this season, on March 1st at 6:30am, our Panthers had some great performances and great weather. In shortboard heats, Adam Lazarus took 2nd, while Noam Elroi and Cole Yoshida each took 3rd.  Patrick Woodland came in 3rd in the bodyboard competition. Skye Perranoski scooped up 1st in girl's longboard. Unfortunately PV outsurfed Peninsula, 110-58.


 


Yesterday, the defending CIF Division 1 boys tennis team traveled to University and came away with an 11-7 win. University figures to be one of the top 4 teams again this year, so this was a big win. The trio of singles players - Connor Hance, Dariush Jalali, Sahm Irvine - won seven of the nine sets. The number one doubles team of Louis DeWitt-Hoeger and William Mori won two sets as did the number two team, brothers Adil and Nabeen Khan.
 
On Monday, the boys host the team they defeated in the finals of CIF last year, San Marino.  Come on down for the 2:30 match!

Last weekend the boys tennis team opened the season by winning the La Jolla Country Day Invitational. The seven-member team included seniors Connor Hance, Louis DeWitt-Hoeger, Stephen Whitman; and juniors Sahm Irvine, William Mori, Jack Branger and Adil Kahn. Stephen and Sahm went undefeated as the team blew through Redlands (7-2), Coronado (7-2), La Jolla Country Day (7-2), and Westview (8-1). 
 




Peninsula's Track and Field team took on South Torrance with girls varsity winning by a large point margin. Unfortunately, boys varsity lost by just a few points, but they all gave their best effort. 
Field Event highlights include Jaqueline Ahrens (12) and Armon Gorgani (11) getting first in pole vault. Gorgani got a new personal record with a height of 13'6". Tobi Adeoye (11) placed first in both shot put and discus, getting a personal record in spot put with 32'4". Devon Scott-Ford (12) placed first in long jump with 21'6". 

On the track, our distance runners fought for the win with Jessica Nye (11) and Kade Wong (11) both getting first in the 1600m. Nye also got first in the 800m. Kiley Atwood (12) followed Nye finishing second in the 1600m and finished first in the 3200m. Our hurdlers, Eric Nuygen (12) and Annabelle David (12), both took first in the 100m Hurdles. David also took first place in the 200m. John Addleman (12) had a great debut race winning first place in the 400m. Lastly, Yinka Braimah (11) not only took first in the 100m but she might have also broken a school record!



  
The softball team has had a bit of a roller coaster start with 2 losses to tough teams, Gahr and Banning, and sandwiching a solid win over Long Beach Wilson.  In the game versus Wilson, Madison Denton led the way with two hits and a home run while pitching a complete game.  Seniors Hannah Lyons and Eman Elpusan also homered, while freshman Kelly Beaupre doubled twice.  Sophomore Stacey Surace thwarted a late rally with a diving catch of a ball hit down the left field line.  The team will be back in action this weekend with Cypress Tournament games versus Downey and Long Beach Millikan.
 


After dropping 2 straight sets, our men rallied back winning 2 straight.  In the fifth and final set Bishop Montgomery outlasted our Panthers pulling out the victory 16-14.