Varsity Boys soccer team was back on the road Tuesday night in a battle of royal blue as they took on the Benicia Panthers in their Diablo League opener.  For the fourth straight game, the Dons got on the scoreboard first when Ben Pecci drilled a shot from the right corner that pinballed off a Panther’s defender, goalkeeper, and left post then caromed into the goal.  You don’t want to play Ben in billiards!  Despite repeated opportunities, the Dons couldn’t punch it again the rest of the half while the Panthers evened the score off a breakaway. A dense fog rolled in during the second half but the Dons could clearly see opportunity. After Pecci was taken down in the box during another Dons attack, Jonny Roth drilled home a penalty kick to put the Dons back in front. The Dons were buoyed by the return of Jake Boselli and Niko White, two members of the Acalanes state football champions! Jake entered in the first half at striker and nearly scored a goal in his first minute of action! He later moved to goalkeeper for the final 20 minutes of the match and made a diving save to keep the Dons ahead 2-1.  The Dons kept attacking and secured the victory with 3 minutes left when Lucas Dissman launched a beautiful corner kick from the left side that Pecci (our Man of the Match) punched in to give the Dons a two-goal lead that put the Acalanes crowd at ease and secured the first victory of the season. 

On the previous Saturday, Acalanes faced off against Pittsburg with the crowd still buzzing from the Dons’ historic win in football just an hour earlier.  The team got off to their customary hot start with Pecci dribbling through the Pitt defense to score a goal then a minute later Colin Sohn drilled one into the right side of the net after a nifty steal. However, soon thereafter the Dons striker received a surprise red card so we had to play the duration of the match down a man.  Pittsburg took advantage and netted two early second-half goals then followed that up with a penalty kick and a last-minute goal to take a 4-2 victory. Sohn was named the Dons Man of the Match after another fine performance from his midfield position. 

The Dons are on the home pitch again Thursday at 7pm vs. Berean Christian then have a Saturday 10am breakfast special at De La Salle vs Sequoia. Go Dons!