Displaced By Palisades Fire, Pali Lacrosse Teams Find a Way

The Palisades Charter High School girls’ and boys’ lacrosse teams celebrated CIF Los Angeles City Section championships within hours of each other April 30.

The titles — the third in a row for the girls and the ninth straight for the boys — were some of the only normalcy in a season that began in question.

Almost exactly three months before their triumphs, they experienced devastating tragedy. The most destructive fire to ever hit the city of Los Angeles had finally been contained, but not before upturning their lives.

“It was definitely very uncertain and scary,” girls’ lacrosse captain Giada Rice said. “My dad's house was affected by the fire, and most of the other captains’ houses were affected by the fires. We were sad about not being able to see each other, and then it was uncertain whether we were going to have a season at all.”

The Palisades fire started January 7. Over the next 24 days, 12 people were killed and more than 23,000 acres, an area of 37 square miles, burned. A total of 4,707 single-family homes as well as more than 1,000 other types of individual housing units were lost in the fires, according to a Los Angeles Times analysis of Cal fire damage inspections and L.A. County Assessor property records.

UCLA researchers estimate the real estate losses alone in Pacific Palisades and Altadena to be above $33 billion.

“Within hours of the fire happening, that season was what us as the captains wanted to put together and made sure it happened,” boys’ lacrosse captain Riley Donner said. “So, we got in touch with our coaches quickly, and we were trying to figure out field space and if everything would happen.”

The senior defenseman was one of thousands displaced when his family’s home was lost. His family was forced to move to a West Hollywood apartment. Lacrosse gave him an outlet each day.

“It really just gave us something to play for all season,” Donner said. “We got jerseys finally in the middle of the season with ‘Pali Strong’ on the back, and it really motivated us and brought us together as a group.”

Palisades — affectionately known as Pali — saw its school badly damaged. Field space and storage units also were compromised. Uniforms and equipment were damaged. Neither team could play or practice at Pali.

“That was a long period of uncertainty for a lot of folks,” girls’ coach Dexter O’Connell said.

Without the physical school building, classes went back online like they had during the COVID-19 pandemic. Only in the final week of the season did the school begin holding classes in-person in a former Sears department store in Santa Monica — now nicknamed Pali South.

“For a while, that second semester we were on Zoom school, so we didn't get to see our friends every day,” Rice said. “But then I could go to lacrosse and see all of my friends there. So, it was a nice way to just see people in-person. And so I feel so grateful that we were able to have a more regular season than it seemed like was possible initially.”

Pali has a sparkling academic reputation and also has a proud lacrosse tradition. The boys had the first recognized CIF Los Angeles City Section team in 2006. Pali also had the first girls’ program locally.

Holding seasons this year was about more than lacrosse. It helped with healing.

“We weren't just playing for ourselves, we were playing for something bigger than us, and we wanted to have something while life wasn't going great,” Donner said. “We wanted a distraction and something that we could go out to every day and see our friends and our coaches there.”

“They call lacrosse the medicine game,” boys’ coach David Bucchino said. “I really feel like that's what it was for everybody.”

There were challenges outside the usual game at every turn, beginning with where to practice and play and finding equipment and uniforms. When the girls’ uniforms were not ready for their first game, O’Connell bought shirts and printed on their numbers himself.

“It was definitely different than most seasons, but it was kind of nice to have that weird little, I guess, keepsake from this season to kind of remind myself of all the interesting things that had happened,” Rice said. “We only had to play with those for one game, and then we got our regular jerseys.”

Practices were anything but regular. Sometimes they couldn’t find anywhere and had to skip a day. The logistics of getting everyone who’d been displaced and taken out of their routine into some structured schedule at an available location was its own everyday challenge.

“That definitely had an impact on some of the kids’ ability to participate over the course of this season,” O’Connell said. “One player I know just had to leave the team because her family had moved to a place that it was unrealistic for her to try to get to practice every day.”

Donner drove 40 minutes each way to practices at Brentwood School. He drove three hours to one game, and most drives to games were around 90 minutes.

“Everyone was so spread out, and we had to practice at different schools, which is pretty crazy,” Bucchino said. “We had to practice at different places. It was week to week and even sometimes from day to day, so it just varied, and I think that was a hurdle and also just getting kids the proper gear.”

Donner had to buy all new equipment. The teams also received donations and an outpouring of support from a wide range of sources.

“Honestly, just getting a lot of support from the lacrosse community, that was awesome,” Bucchino said. “That was almost overwhelming.”

The girls played home games at Los Angeles City section rivals Culver City and Birmingham Charter. Birmingham donated two dozen sticks plus household goods for players and their families.

Millikan gave the Pali girls gift bags and Starbucks gift cards. Simi Valley presented roses to each player on Senior Night.

“There was so much support in the lacrosse community and so much solidarity across the lacrosse community,” O’Connell said. “It’s something that was extremely heartening. It was really powerful to see that from the teams that we played. It was stuff like that every time where there were a lot of folks who were going above and beyond to help us have the most normal season possible.”

Having their seasons was a critical part of trying to find some normalcy after the fire’s devastation. Being there for each other was vital. They could offer support to each other coming out of the traumatic fires and their aftermath.

“It’s really comforting being able to just talk with my teammates regularly about everything when we were able to come to practices,” Rice said. “I just think being able to have that in-person interaction was really helpful, especially because the couple months after the fires was just very difficult.”

Winning brought the Dolphins teams some extra joy. Freshman Elexus Ray scored nine goals, Emma Yoffe scored twice and Amanda Wexler also had a goal in the girls’ 12-3 championship game win over El Camino Real (Calif.).

“Despite not having regular practice time and losing a couple weeks of the season because of the fires, it was so nice to be able to win to show that we were still such a great team,” Rice said. “Despite everything that had happened, we were able to work together. I think it kind of felt more important than the wins that we had in the past years.”

Will Fishman produced a hat trick, Dylan Wong and Gavin Zuniga had two goals apiece and Maddox Walker stopped eight shots for the Dolphin boys in their 14-5 win over El Camino Real, which had an early 2-0 lead. Donner was part of a core group of seniors critical to the success after graduating some significant contributors in 2024.

“We had to bring up the whole team and bring up the spirits of everybody and teach new players to play,” he said. “And it was it was rough during this season to get a group together, but towards the end we built confidence, we built stamina and we came together as a group. We got the job done.”

It was a welcome celebration only three months after the Palisades fire had left the season in doubt. There is still uncertainty among many families in the area as they look to rebuild. There is hope that the students will be back in their regular school by January, and players are counting down the days until they can defend their lacrosse titles.

Rice is headed to UC Santa Barbara, and Donner hopes to play MCLA at the University of Miami after helping their Pali teams to accomplishments that won’t be forgotten.

“It was really a chance just for me to be with my best friends every day and do something I love,” Donner said. “The lacrosse is just the fun part of it. It was just about being together during that time.”