On Tuesday, the Lady Dons headed down to Soquel to face the Soquel High School Knights for the first round of CIF. The Dons beat the Knights at the NorCal Tournament last month but knew it would be a battle. 

Senior Sophie Hendrickson scored the first goal of the game, giving Acalanes the lead, but it was short-lived as Soquel returned with their first goal within a minute. Senior Brooklyn Plomp skipped a penalty shot in to regain the lead, but Soquel scored to tie it up. Right before the quarter ended, senior Wendy Heffelfinger started her signature “Wendy Windup” and sent the ball flying to the back of the cage to give the Dons a 3-2 lead. The Knights came out strong in the second quarter and scored back-to-back shots to take the lead. Brooklyn Plomp scored another beautiful penalty shot to tie the game back up, but the Knights were able to score two more goals before the half. Down by two, the Lady Dons refused to give up, even when Soquel scored the first goal of the quarter taking a 3-goal lead. Senior Liv Hoppe started the comeback with a gorgeous outside shot bringing the Dons within two at the end of the 3rd. Liv Hoppe knew her team needed to win the sprint and gave every last ounce she had to win possession for the Dons. Junior Levand Koopah capitalized on that by scoring the first goal of the quarter and shrinking Soquel’s lead to one. Sophie Hendrickson tied up the game with help from sophomore Ella Del Rosario and the Lady Dons were back! Liv could taste the victory and scored another goal which regained the lead for Aca. Next, Brooklyn scored on a powerplay to make it a two-goal lead! The Lady Dons fought hard and played amazing defense that prevented the Knights from scoring a single goal in the 4th quarter. It was a sweet victory the buzzer ended the game, the Lady Dons season was not over, they were headed to the CIF Division 1 Semifinals!