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The Berkeley High girls’ lacrosse team defeated Bishop O’Dowd, 6-1, on Saturday to clinch the Golden Gate-Shoreline Lacrosse League title with an undefeated league season. Senior Elena Krieger led the way for Berkeley with three goals. 

O’Dowd (4-2 GGSLL) actually got the scoring started at Cal’s Memorial Stadium when Anne Marie Cecconi found teammate Tiffany Lee open in front of the Berkeley net after a long stretch of pressure. But that was the last goal the Dragons would get as Berkeley goalie Rosie Gibson had a stellar second half with nine saves, including three on penalty shots. 

“I wasn’t really worried when (O’Dowd) scored,” Berkeley head coach Rebecca Meyer said. “The only thing I was worried about was that we might mentally psych ourselves out. But I knew we could be strong and come back and score.” 

Gibson did an excellent job of not giving up rebounds, but the same couldn’t be said for O’Dowd goalie Jovan Tucker. Tucker did a good job on initial shots, but often couldn’t get the ball to stay in her cradle. Berkeley scored its first goal on a rebound, with Krieger picking up the loose ball and firing it past Tucker. 

“Elena was the key today,” Meyer said. “She played great on offense and defense.” 

The Lady Yellowjackets (10-4 overall, 6-0 GGSLL) also took advantage of the slower O’Dowd players with fastbreaks. Off of a quick restart, Veronica Searles passed to Sacsha Atkins-Loria, who raced up the sideline before dumping the ball to Kate Walstead. Walstead dropped the ball, but had time to pick it back up and score for a 2-1 edge. 

Another restart found Walstead feeding Atkins-Loria for an easy shot, then Joanna Hoch bounced a shot past Tucker just before halftime, and Berkeley was up 4-1. 

The second half was a defensive battle, with nearly 20 minutes going by without a score. Gibson was on fire coming out of halftime, making eight saves during the scoreless stretch to make sure the Dragons couldn’t cut the Berkeley lead. 

Two goals in 32 seconds sealed the deal for the ’Jackets. First Atkins-Loria put the ball to the front of the O’Dowd goal, where Krieger made a great catch before turning and beating Tucker high. Krieger finished her hat trick on a penalty shot seconds later, and Berkeley had the league championship all sewn up. 

Berkeley will now enter an eight-team postseason tournament. Possible first-round opponents include Monte Vista, Miramonte and Thatcher.