Spotlight: Salinas High School Girls LAX

In 2015, Salinas High School became the first public high school in Monterey County to field a girls lacrosse team.  The other schools-all private-were Santa Catalina, Stevenson and York.

That first year, SHS had 26 girls come out to play and not a single girl had held a lacrosse stick prior to the first practice.  Coached by Joe Utschig, the team only won two games, but Mariah Reynolds, who picked up a stick for the first time  only four months earlier, made it to the NORCAL team that went on to the national tournament.


SHS fielded a girls JV team the following year with Laura Prevatt as the coach.  The varsity team improved to 13-5, having beaten every local team in the area at least twice.



In 2017, their third season, SHS girls went 15-4-1 and won the inaugural MTAL girls lacrosse league championship.  The league now included Carmel High.

2018 saw SHS go 14-5 and share he MTAL title with Monterey.

Last year, 2019, SHS went 14-5 and took 2nd place in the Sanger tournament, sharing the inaugural PCAL title with Stevenson.  The  league now included Notre Dame.  SHS went on a three-day Southern California road trip in late February, playing Downey (Downey), Edison (Huntington Beach), and Dos Pueblos (Goleta).  The JV team, coached by John Lukasko, lost only one game by one point.

Mallory Sanchez was named the League MVP in addition to being ranked number one in California, and 13th in the nation, for ground balls.

2020 PCAL Girls Lacrosse schedule