On Tuesday night the JV Boys team finally got to play a regular 10v10 game! Admittedly, to those in the stands, it looked like there were a lot of players on the field… we had gotten a bit used to watching 7v7 matches. Acalanes looked very comfortable in this regular formation and dominated the game from beginning to end, despite a strong showing by College Park.
The usual suspects started the game: Luke Spinelli in goal, protected by a defense consisting of Owen Hulst, Jacob Stephen, and Emerson Boudreau. The midfield saw Anthony Quinn, Ryan Yun, and Luke Dafferner taking the faceoff. Attackers Logan Houston, Jackson Tseng, and Andrew Iams stood ready to set up for some goals. The first quarter initially had a bit of back-and-forth with both teams causing some turnovers. Dafferner and Hulst each had knockdowns to cause loose balls. Justin Theodoropoulos subbed in and got in on the action as well. After a few Dons shots went wide, Tseng was able to find Iams for a nice shot in the upper corner for the first goal of the match; 1-0. As the defense and middies held off any College Park attacks, Harrison Mracheck and Miguel Carmena subbed in to keep some fresh legs on the field. Iams and Mracheck applied some pressure to force a turnover, which led to some nice passing from Dafferner to Houston to Tseng for a rocket of a shot that sailed high. College Park tried to get one back, but the Dons defense forced very wide off target shots. Carmena found himself with the ball and passed up to Quinn who found Dafferner who scored between the goalie’s legs; 2-0. The Dons got some momentum and tested the College Park goalie as Dafferner and Houston each had shots that were blocked. The goalie tried an outlet pass that Yun intercepted, who found Houston for another shot that went wide to end the quarter.
The second quarter began with Dafferner winning the faceoff as he pushed the ball out to a charging Quinn who scooped it up. There was initially some physical play on both sides forcing dropped balls. Houston muscled in to scoop one up, but the College Park defense was quick to knock the ball back out. As the Dons found themselves down 1 due to penalty, the defense forced another knockdown that Dafferner scooped up, passed up to Yun, who found Tseng for a nice low shot that found net; 3-0. After the next faceoff, Tseng returned the favor and found a cutting Dafferner who shot and scored; 4-0. The Dons defense held strong as Evan Rohrbough subbed in, while the Acalanes attackers kept firing off shots. Yun had a nice shot that just went wide. Houston found himself with the ball as the goalie was out challenging, but the College Park squeezed in quickly to block his shot. Yun forced an errant College Park pass and on the inbounds Houston found Dafferner who found an open Quinn in front of the goal for a score; 5-0. Houston found Quinn again for another shot, but the goalie had another nice save and started his team up the field. The Dons middies and defense held strong though to end the quarter.
Nathan Ricci took his turn in goal to start the third quarter, as Spinelli had shut out College Park in the first half. The Dons attackers forced a turnover, but a questionable call led to the Dons being down 1 again on penalty. This didn’t slow down this team at all, as Quinn intercepted a pass and got it up to Dafferner who found Tseng next to the goal for a nice quick score; 6-0. This would be the only goal of the quarter. However, the Dons had great play as Finlay Geddes took a turn at attack, which freed up Houston to get in on the middie action. Both teams showed aggressive play during the quarter as there was a lot of back-and-forth. Quinn, Houston, Tseng, Dafferner, and Iams each had nice shots that either went wide or the goalie blocked. The College Park goalie did a nice job all night as the Dons tested him often. As the Dons found themselves down 1 again due to another penalty, the defense held strong to force a wide shot to end the quarter.
The last quarter saw more of the aggressive back-and-forth play. But, the Dons defense and middies wouldn’t let College Park get any decent plays. Spinelli was back in goal and stopped a couple of shots. He found an outlet pass to Dafferner who found Tseng who had his shot blocked. As the Dons found themselves down due to penalty again, they still managed to gain back possession as Dafferner and Houston scooped up loose balls after some nice knockdowns. But, the College Park goalie managed to block shots by both Dafferner and Tseng. After another knockdown, Houston was able to scoop it up and find Tseng who found net for the final score of the game; 7-0. After an initial attack by College Park who got off a shot that Spinelli caught, the Dons found themselves down 2 due to penalties. The Dons defense didn’t seem affected as they had great positioning and aggression to stop College Park as the horn sounded and the Dons got their first shutout of the season!
Come out Friday night to Miramonte for what should be a very good last game. Miramonte is 6-0 in league and the Dons are 5-0-1 in league. The winner of this game will find themselves atop the standings.