What young coaches Cole Schoenheide and Wil Schueler (#Shiest) have done this season with the JV Dons is hugely impressive and deserves a lot of praise and respect.  This team started the first week of the season on the losing end of two blowout games looking unorganized.  From the outside looking in, it appeared as if it was going to be a long season.  The second week and beyond were a complete reversal.  The JV Boys coaches got this team organized, working together on set plays, developed an unbelievable team camaraderie, high amounts of sideline positive cheering, and a rapid improvement in stick skills.  They never looked back as they went undefeated during that time.

Coming up short against Miramonte (4-7) on Friday was an unfortunate way to end the season, but hats off to the Mats as they were simply the better team on the day.  However, these Dons should walk tall and be proud of this game and all others in the season – overall achieving a record of 9-3-1 and a league record of 5-1-1.  Go Dons!  The future of the boys lacrosse program looks bright!

Per usual, the game began with our phenomenal goalie, Luke Spinelli, being protected by defenders Miguel Carmena, Owen Hulst, and Emerson Boudreau.  Attackers Jackson Tseng, Andrew Iams, and Logan Houston took their normal spots.  Luke Dafferner lined up for the faceoff, while Anthony Quinn and Ryan Yun waited to charge in.  The Dons looked like they would be on the attack early as the Mats dropped the pass and Hulst scooped it up, leading to rapid shots by Dafferner, Iams, and subbed in Mason Lanphere (back from concussion protocol).  Unfortunately, all went wide or were saved by the Mats goalie, who had a tremendous night against our Dons.  The Mats countered with some strong possession, but Spinelli made some nice saves and our Dons defense held strong.  Unfortunately, the Mats kept pounding until they found net; 0-1.  As TJ Cronin subbed in at middie, the Dons found themselves up 1 due to penalty.  Dafferner found Houston who found Tseng for a lower corner shot and goal to tie it up; 1-1.  After a bit of back-and-forth action, Lanphere and Quinn squeezed in on a Mats runner to force a turnover, allowing Lanphere to get a shot off that was deflected.  The Mats were then able to run it all the way back for another score; 1-2.  As time was running out, the Mats were able to get a shot off that Spinelli blocked, but an attacker recovered the ball and scored with only 4 seconds left; 1-3.

The second quarter began with Miramonte coming out strong on the attack.  The Dons tried to counter as Hulst was able to knock a Mats pass out of bounds and Houston chased down a Mats runner to knock the ball loose and scoop it up.  Houston found Dafferner in front of the goal, but his shot was just wide.  After the inbound, Houston ran it up and found net with a bounced shot; 2-3.  Most of the quarter saw a nice back-and-forth possession and attack, but both teams showed strong defense, deflecting shots and goalie saves.  Unfortunately, the Mats defense seemed to be pretty good about hitting our shooters sticks as they brought them back to wind up their shots.  Dafferner, Tseng, Houston, and Lanphere all had shots go wide, saved, or deflected.  Cronin and Quinn seemed to do a little of everything as they caused turnovers and recovered the ball.  As the Dons were attempting a substitution, the Mats seemed to take quick advantage and found net; 2-4.  The quarter came to a close as the Dons were down 2 due to double penalties.

Throughout the third quarter, the Dons were quite a bit on the defensive as the Mats kept challenging and we couldn’t find net, unable to score in the quarter.  As the Dons were forced to start down the 2 still to penalty, Carmena, Boudreau and Harrison Mrachek were tasked with trying to protect against a probably score.  As they held strong, and some shots went wide, Dafferner was able to check an attacker for a turnover.  As the Dons moved up, Iams was able to scoop up a loose ball and find Dafferner for a shot that sailed high.  As the Mats returned it up field, they were able to score, still being up 1 from the penalty; 2-5.  The Mats goalie began to shine as he saved shots by Dafferner, Quinn, and Houston.  As Lanphere tried to get close for a shot, the Mats defense squeezed in aggressively and caused a turnover.  Unfortunately, a late turnover as the Dons were trying to move up the field led to an open goal score by the Mats; 2-6.

As the fourth quarter began, the Dons seemed a bit more fired up.  Despite some Miramonte possession, our defense was holding strong as Spinelli made a couple saves.  The Dons countered as Cronin ran it up the field, found Houston who in turn found Tseng, who found net; 3-6.  Things looked a bit promising as Dafferner won the faceoff and scooped it out to a charging Quinn.  Lanphere had a shot go wide, while Dafferner had a shot blocked.  The Dons then found themselves up 1 due to penalty, but were unable to convert as Tseng had a shot go off the post, Houston had a shot bounce over, Quinn had a shot go wide, and Iams had a rocket shot caught by the goalie.  After the Mats got their penalty player back on the turf, they were able to run it back for another score; 3-7.  Dafferner seemed to take this one personally as he dominated the ensuing faceoff and ran it up himself for a nice score; 4-7.  As time ran down Carmena forced a bad pass that Lanphere was able to intercept, but the Mats goalie made another one of his nice saves on Lanphere’s shot.  This would run out the clock and the 4-7 loss would stand.

This is a tremendous group of young players and a couple of great coaches.  We look forward to seeing all of you progress in Acalanes lacrosse!  Congratulations on a great season during games, practices, and pasta feeds!