Acalanes Girls Soccer hosted El Cerrito Saturday evening and had all of the ingredients for another big win in the “kitchen.” It could be argued by many in attendance that the true first goal of the match was a beautiful bar-down goal by senior Natalie Means that bounced fully over the goal line, behind the El Cerrito keeper, but unfortunately, the linesman was not in the correct position to make the call…. Fortunately, the Dons’ first official goal of the match was scored by Means (again), and assisted by fellow senior Taylor Carlin just a couple of minutes later with 33 minutes left in the first half. With just over 17 minutes left in the first half, Means scored yet again, this time assisted by junior Emmi Cronin. The Dons went into halftime with a 2-0 lead and came out of halftime ready to keep “cooking.” The third goal of the match was credited to Cronin who made a nice, hard shot toward the goal but was actually deflected into the net by one of the El Cerrito defenders; senior Lauren Yee got the play started by passing the ball to Cronin. Junior Tatum Zuber added another goal to the scoreboard with a beautiful outside shot, assisted by Cronin. Emmi Cronin capped off her performance and the match with an unusual empty-net goal that was more reminiscent of a hockey game than a soccer match; El Cerrito brought their goalie past the half-line late in the game to try to score off of a corner kick, but the Dons gained possession of the ball, gave it to Emmi who was off to the races, shooting the ball on frame at the half-line and scoring before the El Cerrito goalie could chase it down. Junior goalie Catherine Judson added yet another shutout to her resume this season. The final score was 5-0 in favor of the Dons.

The JV Dons also had a strong 4-0 shutout game vs the El Cerrito JV Gauchos. Goals were scored by junior Gianna Intagliata, sophomores Mya Dunne and Megan Yee, and freshman Sienna Houston. Junior Kendal Geddes, sophomore Megan Yee, and freshman Mollie Schofield all took turns in goal for the Dons during the game.

The Dons play away vs Concord on Tuesday at 7pm and 5pm. The BIG game of the week is at Las Lomas on Thursday at 7pm, JV at 5pm; the Dons could use your support for that game as they look for redemption against the Knights. On Saturday, the Dons play late afternoon matches at Miramonte at 4pm and 2pm. Go Dons!