In the second of two games against Campo this season, the Dons were hoping for a better showing than their first match up earlier in the season and to play spoiler for Campo’s Senior Night. The good news is that the Dons looked much stronger than the first match up and played with heart all game long, but the bad news is that the end result was ultimately the same, but this time in overtime. The toughest part to swallow was that the Dons had built a late two goal lead, but needed some composure and guidance to close out this emotionally charged rivalry game.
After waiting through some lengthy Senior Night speeches and an over three minute rendition of the Star Spangled Banner, the Dons came out strong in the first quarter, playing tight defense, thanks to the efforts of starting defenders Kelly Todhunter, Avery Ives, Reese Tierney and Claire Zimmerman, as well as getting some nice shots on offense. Senior Jenna Steele was the first to score off of a strong drive just over three minutes into the game. The Dons came *this* close to scoring a second later in the quarter when freshman Grace Colaco got an 8m shot past the Cougar’s goalie, but with a step into the crease, the goal didn’t count. The first quarter ended with the score 1-0 in favor of the Dons.
The second quarter was a little tougher with Campo equalizing under one minute in off of an 8m. Then they scored a couple minutes later to go up a goal. Junior Lucca DeBiasse drew an 8m of her own, with the Cougars fouling her again during her first attempt. On her second 8m DeBiasse couldn’t be stopped, tying it up at 2-2. The Dons let Campo score late in the first half to give Campo a one goal lead at halftime.
Early in the second half, Grace Imrie drew her second 8m of the game; she passed it to Colaco who buried it into the back of the net to tie the score 3-3. Halfway through the quarter, G. Imrie shot and scored on another earned 8m, giving the Dons a one goal lead and forcing Campo to take a timeout. Unfortunately the timeout worked and Campo tied it back up on an 8m of their own. Late in the third quarter, senior goalie Addie Martin made a huge save, one of six big saves that she made throughout the game. The score was all tied up 4-4 going into the 4th quarter.
Less than a minute into the 4th quarter, the Dons were up a player for two minutes due to a yellow card on Campo, but the Dons weren’t able to capitalize on the opportunity. A few minutes later, senior Ella Thomason was awarded an 8m on the hanging hash mark, ran middle to give herself a better angle and scored top shelf to regain the lead for the Dons 5-4. Campo received another yellow card and the Dons were able to take advantage this time when Colaco snuck a bounce shot past the Campo goalie, giving the Dons a two goal lead, 6-4, with just seven minutes left in the game. Campo took their second timeout. Shortly after, the Dons went down a player on a yellow card. The Dons were able to kill the penalty, but then went down a player due to a yellow card yet again with just over three minutes left. This time, Campo took full advantage and scored two to tie it up. Campo also earned two 8m shots in the final minute, missing one and Martin making a massive save on the other with three seconds left to send the game into overtime. The Dons fouled Campo again early into the golden goal overtime period and Campo scored on their 8m shot to end the game, Campo 7, Dons 6.
Next up for the Dons is an away game at Carondelet on Monday night at 7pm. Let’s go, Dons!
