Lacrossing a Milestone
The girls varsity lacrosse captain, junior Keira Fletcher, added a notable accomplishment to her name by scoring 100 career goals at the start of her junior season. On Feb. 27, by making six goals to help Peninsula defeat Millikan High School 20-0, Fletcher’s total scored goals accumulated to the highest in her career. Fletcher has been a member of the girls varsity lacrosse team since her freshman year and is currently the only member of the team to achieve this milestone. Senior and co-captain Clara Paolucci expresses how proud she is of Fletcher to achieve this important milestone in her girls lacrosse high school career.
“The amount of dedication and passion Fletcher has put into lacrosse since she joined the team is remarkable,” Paolucci said. “To score 100 goals as a captain in such a short time period is inspiring for the whole team, including myself.”
While playing a vital role as a midfielder, a position which requires one to play both offense and defense, Fletcher has also made significant accomplishments in the varsity team’s off-season where she participates in the club lacrosse circuit. As a freshman, Fletcher was selected to be a part of the All-America Command West Regional team, a team which comprises the best lacrosse players with exceptional technique and skill in the West Coast to play in the All-America Lacrosse Tournament in Maryland. However, these notable accomplishments were not achieved without challenges in her lacrosse career. In her sophomore year, Fletcher was sidelined for the second half of the season with a Medial Collateral Ligament (MCL) tear in her left knee. Knowing the recovery process would be long, Fletcher went through intense rehabilitation treatments, working on her speed and agility twice a week to get back to playing at full capacity. Even though her playing abilities were limited, Fletcher became a junior coach, helping her teammates and coaches with strategies and ideas during every game. To finish her sophomore season, Fletcher qualified for the Bay League 2nd Team, an award for some of the best players from all schools in the Bay League. Fletcher explains how meaningful this accomplishment is to her and how it motivated her for the rest of the season.
“Reaching the 100 career goals milestone made me feel proud of myself,” Fletcher said. “I was already working toward this goal last year, but the injury [I faced] was a major setback. To know that I was able to accomplish this after the injury has motivated me to set larger goals for myself for the season.”
Being a standout junior player, Fletcher was named co-captain of the girls lacrosse team for the first time this season. As a captain, Fletcher takes more responsibility with the team by planning the practices and brainstorming new playing strategies against every new opponent team. The girls lacrosse team has started the 2023-24 season on a positive note with a 6-2 win-loss record, and is competing in Division 2 with hopes to qualify for the California Interscholastic Federation (CIF) Championships. On March 2, the team traveled to Pasadena, California to play in the annual Rose Bowl Jamboree Girls Lacrosse Tournament where Peninsula placed first in their group division. The team defeated La Canada High School 13-2, Tustin High School 18-1 and Portola High School 12-4, where Fletcher scored the most goals from the team in the whole tournament. Fletcher is eager to increase her career goal tally by at least 70 goals this season to help the team’s performance as the Bay League games begin. Senior Beatrice Navarro shares how deserving her teammate is to have this big breakthrough in her lacrosse journey.
“Keira is one of my best friends and the hardest worker I know,” Navarro said. “She is a great captain and always shows up to practice with 100 percent effort and enthusiasm. These qualities help her lead the team in the best way possible and [eventually] achieve more milestones in the future.”
