Lacrosse History: In 1881 the first intercollegiate tournament took place on the Polo Grounds in New York. In the final match of the tournament Harvard beat Princeton 3-0. In 1904 lacrosse is played in the Olympics. In the championship match Canada defeats the USA.
On Friday March 8th the Dons travelled to Northgate HS for their first League match. Lacrosse is played 10v10 and on the full length of the football field. So, imagine the surprise when you arrive and see a coned-off much smaller playing field and a match that will be played 7v7. The last time these boys played 7v7 was when they were 12U. As it turns out, Northgate HS only had 11 players and the two schools agreed to play the smaller game. This did not seem to disrupt our Acalanes Don’s plans of being aggressive, organized, and following set plays to find opportunities to score. There was no lack of scoring as the Dons routed the Broncos 23-6.
This match ultimately saw 8 different Dons score goals, 5 of whom had hat tricks, including a double hat trick by Andrew Iams! The other hat tricks were scored by Luke Dafferner, Jackson Tseng, Grady Evans (Varsity guest player), and Logan Houston.
Dafferner won most faceoffs in the match, including the very first one that immediately led to shots by Evans and Tseng that went wide. An inbound pass from Evans to Dafferner led to the first goal of the match.
The shortened field and fewer players seemed to only aid the Dons in their passing and running game. The poor Northgate goalie faced a barrage of shots all night. The Dons scored 5 additional unanswered goals with beautiful shots by Mason Lanphere, Anthony Quinn, Tseng, Dafferner, and Evans. Just before the end of the first quarter Northgate was finally able to counter with a nice goal of their own, ending the quarter with Dons leading 6-1.
The second quarter saw even more dominance by the Dons. On the few occasions that Northgate seemed to threaten attack and make it on to the Dons side of the field, strong defense by Jacob Stephen, Emerson Boudreau, Harrison Mrachek, and Evan Rohrbough would shut them down. Any shots were handled easily by goalie Luke Spinelli. The Dons had strategic subbing to open up attackers and stuck to their set plays, even being down a middie and attacker due to the 7v7 format. This led to unanswered goals scored by Dafferner, Iams (five times), Houston, Tseng, Quinn, and Evans, ending the quarter 16-1.
The third quarter saw a sub in of the JV Boys other goalie, Nathan Ricci, who handled Northgate attacks like a veteran player. Dons were quick to get back on the board with goals by Evans, Houston (two times), and another by Iams. Strong defense by Quinn and Miguel Carmena kept Northgate in check for most of the quarter, but they did mount a nice attack that led to their second goal of the match, ending the quarter at 20-2.
The fourth quarter understandably saw a bit of a mercy back down by the Dons attack and seemed a little more defensive in strategy. This did allow Northgate to mount some nice attacks. Despite some nice defensive play by Rohrbough, Mraceck, and Owen Hulst, and two very notable saves by goalie Ricci, the Broncos did manage to mount a small counter-attack and score 4 goals of their own. However, the Dons attacks couldn’t be held down despite backing off a bit, leading to goals by Tseng, Lanphere, and a final pass from Curtis Sanders to Finlay Geddes for the final goal of the match. The night ended with a final score of 23-6.
The JV Dons hope to keep up their streak with a Tuesday match at Berkeley HS and a Friday match at Campolindo. Go Dons!
