Top players in girls’ lacrosse: Who is worthy of faceguarding?

Every step Kate Kenney took across the turf at Redondo Union High, her shadow followed. She’d stand at midfield, a mile away from a play at the net, and the shadow would be directly in front of Kenney’s face. Cuts mirrored. Head-fakes mirrored. The shadow stayed.

Kenney is a burgeoning star, an offensive-minded freshman who grew up in Boston entrenched in the East Coast’s lacrosse culture before moving to California. Redondo coach Tom Borgia debated if he should have a defender faceguard her before the teams’ first Bay League matchup in March. He decided against it.

Kenney whipped home six goals. Redondo lost that first meeting 13-8. So for Wednesday afternoon’s rematch, Borgia assigned a shadow: sophomore Sally Diethelm, who traversed far and wide to stick with Kenney in a remarkable invasion of one’s personal space — and not allow a single shot on goal.

“Getting faceguarded is the highest form of flattery, Kenney!” Mustangs head coach Maddy Morrissey yelled from the sidelines at the freshman.

A remarkable tactic: utilize one player to eliminate another’s best. Borgia was happy to play six-on-six, fielding a group of young players without one true star but with a surplus of speed. Behind Diethelm’s traveling jail and a fantastic 16-of-19 save performance by goalie Carly Scolaro, the Sea Hawks tossed their sticks into the air in jubilation after a gritty 5-3 win.

As a freshman, Morrissey said, it’s more difficult to harness the sheer frustration from being faceguarded. Diethelm’s goal was simply to try to get into Kenney’s head — but trying not to risk ticking her off.

“It’s just, like, a little pet peeve,” Morrissey said.

As Morrissey implored to Kenney, flattery in some form. There are only a handful of players across the Southern Section, Borgia said, that he’d consider worthy of such defensive attention. Kenney, who combines height with next-level skill, is one. Others, as contributed by Borgia and Mira Costa coaches:

—Ava Fossati, Marlborough: A supremely talented freshman who plays for the Long Island Yellow Jackets, a New York club team that’s one of the best in the nation, in the summer.

—Riley Padian, Palos Verdes: A junior midfielder who’s averaged four goals a game, and who Borgia did faceguard in an earlier game this season.

—Camden Ballard, Crescenta Valley: Sophomore that averages 3.8 goals.

—Roya Khaleeli, Peninsula: Senior committed to Eastern Michigan University.

—The entirety of the Foothill team. That‘s not a joke. Foothill (12-2) has won two straight Southern Section titles and is on its way to winning another, Borgia said. Even as the Bay League has risen to prominence — Redondo, Mira Costa and Palos Verdes are all consensus top-10 programs — every team in Los Angeles is still trying to chase the powerhouse in Orange County.

“If you combined our team and [Mira] Costa’s team, and maybe [Palos Verdes], I don’t know if we could beat Foothill,” Borgia said. “They’re that good.”

Still, though, Wednesday afternoon’s game gave a glimpse into the improvement and growing talent in South Bay lacrosse, which has been bolstered by middle-school and youth-program feeders Borgia and Morrissey, alongside associate head coach Trenna Hill, have worked to develop. As Kenney develops in the Mustangs’ system and matures, Morrissey said, the freshman will “tear teams apart.”

“L.A. has come to play,” Morrissey said.