SAN DIEGO — The California Palms women’s professional lacrosse team made sure their first home game in franchise history was one to remember, downing the previously unbeaten New York Charging 16-9 on Saturday night at the University of San Diego’s Torero Stadium.
It was payback of sorts. New York beat California 18-11 back in 2025 during the inaugural Women’s Lacrosse League (WLL) Championship Series, and the Charging came into Saturday's matchup at 2-0, looking to be the first WLL team to punch a ticket to this year's championship game. Instead, it was the Palms who left the new No. 1 team in the league, improving to 2-1 on the season while New York fell to the same record.
The win wasn't just about the standings, either. It was a true team effort, with five different Palms finding the back of the net and goalkeeper Taylor Moreno turning in a 17-save performance to anchor the defense.
Anna Brandt. Photographed by Miguel Mejia
The Palms wasted no time setting the tone in their first home game, with Anna Brandt opening the scoring just two and a half minutes in. New York answered right back, scoring twice in quick succession to grab a 2-1 edge. Sam Geiersbach knotted things back up for California, but New York pulled ahead again to make it 3-2.
That's when the Palms closed the quarter on a heater. Emma Masera buried one with under a minute to go, and Geiersbach, assisted by Jill Smith, struck again with just 13 seconds left on the clock, giving California a 4-3 lead heading into the second.
The second quarter was a quieter, more measured stretch. New York opened it with a goal to tie the game at 4-4, and Smith answered for California to push the Palms back in front. The Charging knotted it once more, but Brandt's second goal of the night, with just under three minutes left in the half, gave California a 6-5 edge at the break.
It was a tight, tense first half, and not necessarily the offensive showcase the Palms were hoping for. As Geiersbach put it afterward, the offense started out "a little slow and stagnant." But that was about to change.
The third quarter is where the Palms turned this from a nail-biter into a statement win. Brandt, assisted by Sammy Jo Adelsberger, struck again to open the half, and Maddie McCool followed barely a minute later to make it 8-5. Masera tacked on another to push the lead to four goals.
New York got one back to cut into the deficit, but Emma LoPinto answered right away for California. New York scored again with just five seconds left in the quarter, but by then the damage was done. The Palms had outscored the Charging 4-2 in the period and carried a 10-7 lead into the fourth.
If the third quarter was where California seized control, the fourth was where the Palms made it official. Masera scored twice in the opening minutes, the first assisted by LoPinto, to stretch the lead to 12-7. Geiersbach added a power-play goal, assisted by LoPinto, before New York answered to make it 13-8.
California shut the door from there. Geiersbach struck again (her third of the night, again set up by LoPinto), McCool scored her second, and LoPinto, assisted by Ally Mastroianni, capped the scoring outburst to push the lead to 16-8. New York's Darcy Felter got the final goal of the night with just over a minute left, but it was well too late, and the Palms closed out a 16-9 win in front of their first home crowd.
Ellie Masera. Photographed by Miguel Mejia.
The win moves California to the top of the WLL standings at 2-1, and gives the Palms the league's only positive goal differential, at +8 (50 goals scored, 42 allowed). It also keeps the door open in a tightly bunched race, with the Maryland Charm and Boston Guard both still in the hunt for a Championship spot with just a few weeks of the regular season left to play.
For Geiersbach, who finished with multiple goals on the night, the turnaround after a slow start came down to trust. "I think we started off a little slow and stagnant on the offensive end, but with some adjustments made, we were really moving the ball well, trusting each other, finding each other on the backside, so team effort here. Slides were going, and we were just able to find that backside."
Geiersbach also spoke to what the win means beyond the scoreboard, especially for a franchise playing its first home game on the West Coast in a sport still building its footprint there.
"It's huge. Even just to be representing the West Coast in the first place is such a big opportunity for us. It's such a hotbed on the East Coast, and moving it a little bit more west is really an opportunity for all of us to just continue to grow the game. So especially for [Head Coach] Maddie, living in Los Angeles and doing all that she does for the sport, and a lot of the other kids she coaches are here, her family's here, so it's a huge win for us and California and California lacrosse."
In net, Taylor Moreno turned aside 17 shots to back up the offensive surge, and credited the defense in front of her. "All the prep that goes into playing goalie, I think it's just one of those things that I pride myself on, and just trying to stay calm and composed. At the end of the day, I would not be making the saves that I'm making if it weren't for the defense that's in front of me. We went in with a game plan, and they executed it to the highest level, and I couldn't be more proud to play behind them. I really owe them that game, for sure."
Moreno, who has a history of stepping outside the crease to push the ball up the field and did so a few times during the match, said the instinct still comes from her days as a field player. "I used to play field when I was growing up, and then I played goalie,” she said. “So I still have a little bit of an itch sometimes, but honestly, if it's an opportunity for me to get the ball down to our offensive end, then I'm gonna do it."
And when it came to the postgame MVP Barbie, Moreno made her position clear with a laugh:
"I already told Marie I get the f——— Barbie."
The Palms will look to build on this momentum as the season continues, with their goal differential now the best in the WLL and a marquee win over the reigning Championship Series winner already in the books.
The Palms next match will be played in Boston against the Boston Guard on August 8 at 11:30 a.m. PT. Watch live on ESPN 2.
Top Photo: Sam Geiersbach. Photo Credit: Miguel Mejia/Miguel Mejia Photography
