MANHATTAN BEACH -- The Mira Costa girls flag football team had a rough start to the season, losing their first three games.
However, the Mustangs were able to get things turned around, battle for the Bay League title and were the top seed in the CIF-Southern Section Division 3 playoffs as t.
In Tuesday, first-round game against La Serna, the Mustangs trailed early and were never able to catch the Lancers, eventually falling 19-7.
La Serna sophomore Lexi Avila scored two touchdowns in the final four minutes of the first half to build a 13-point advantage and the defense intercepted four Mira Costa passes in the win.
"Our defense played really well and we had good energy and effort all night defensively," Mira Costa coach Colin Kaiser said. "We have stayed in games and battled all season, we just couldn't put enough points on the board tonight. But I'm very proud of what we accomplished this season especially after the way we started the season."
For the first twenty minutes both defenses dominated.
La Serna (14-11) broke the scoreless tie, driving 62 yards and scoring on a 12-yard touchdown pass from Aubrie Baruch to Lexi Avila with 3:58 remaining in the first half.
Avila then intercepted a pass from Mira Costa quarterback Caroline Love and returned it to the Mira Costa 6-yard line. The Mustangs defense held strong on the first three plays, but on fourth down, from the 2-yard line, Baruch found an open Avila in the back corner of the end zone to make it 13-0 with one second remaining in the half.
In the second half Mira Costa look like it would climb back into the game as the offense moved the ball down to the La Serna 15. However, Love threw her third interception, halting the drive. The La Serna offense cashed it in, with Baruch hitting Katie Serratos for 3-yard touchdown and 19-0 lead.
Mira Costa would finally get their offense going. Love found find Jocelyn Goulding for 20 yards and later she would connect with Simone Van DeVen for 22 yards, moving the ball down to the La Serna 11. On third down, Love would again hit Van DeVen for a 12-yard touchdown pass to make it 19-7 with 8:03 remaining.
That was as close as Mira Costa would. La Serna intercepted its fourth pass with 3:52 left in the game to seal the win.
"That was my first touchdown of the season and I'm really happy about that," Van DeVen said. "We just needed to do more to win today. We really came together as a family this year and I am really looking forward to next season as we only have two seniors so we should be very good."
"I'm so proud of the team. We had a very rough start to the season, but we have improved game after game this season. It's unfortunate that we went out like this, but I'm glad we made it to the playoffs.