It’s the NCS Championships and the Dons are the top seed in the Division 2 playoff bracket with home field advantage. Acalanes hosted the Washington Huskies of Fremont Tuesday night. The Huskies employed an offside trap defense, catching the Dons off guard with early penalties. The strategy failed to take into account the speed and physicality of the Don forwards as Addie Bailey broke free into an open field and threaded a precision pass to a streaking Jacque Peacock to lay in the first goal at the 33 mark in the first half. Minutes later a pass from Taylor Carlin broke the defense and Addie Bailey sailed a smooth shot over the goalie. A few moments later, a huge non-call occurred as the Husky goalie’s foot tripped Addie in the box preventing a scoring opportunity that could have swung the momentum. However, with 3:30 left in the first half, Emmi Cronin powered through the trap defense to score the third and final goal of the game. 

The second half became a Dons defensive clinic, as the offensive powerhouses Addie and Jacque both switched to defense to lockdown the Huskies. Goalie Catherine Judson earned her 12th shutout; the defensive Dons have only allowed 4 goals this season.

Acalanes hosts 9th seeded Las Lomas in a quarterfinal matchup on Friday. This will be the third game between the Dons and the Knights on the season. The Dons prevailed in both of the first two match ups with a close score of 1-0. The third meeting of the Knights and Dons should be an exciting one! Go Dons!