The sun was shining when the Lady Dons left Lafayette, but they were greeted with fog and mist when they arrived in Santa Cruz to face the Robert Lewis Stevenson Pirates and the Soquel Knights. Despite the weather and the 2-hour drive, the Acalanes fans wore their blue and came to cheer their girls on!
The Dons took on the Pirates first. Acalanes started off strong by winning the sprint and a penalty shot scored by sophomore Finley Graff to give the Dons a 1-0 lead. Junior Ella Del Rosario sent the ball to the back of the net to increase the lead and junior Sara Williams added one more for the Dons before Stevenson even made it on the scoreboard. Ella added one more goal before the quarter ended with a score of 4-1 Acalanes.
The Pirates fought back and scored two goals to bring them within one of Acalanes. Finley and Ella weren’t arrrrrrr-right with that and added another goal each bringing the Dons up by 3-goals. RLS was able to send one more to the twine to end the quarter 6-4.
Whatever pep talk the coaches gave at halftime worked because the Dons came out on fire at the beginning of the third quarter! Finley Graff started the quarter by earning a hat trick which was followed by Freshman Malin Stone’s first of the game. Fellow freshman, Lily Briones scored a great goal giving the Dons a 9-4 lead. Great assists by Sara Williams and Malin Stone helped Ella score two more to increase the lead. Senior Levand Koopah scored two goals in a row! Ella added her 6th of the game and junior Siena La Rotunda scored the sweetest goal of the game. While RLS was able to two more that quarter, they couldn’t keep up with the 8 goals Acalanes scored ending the quarter with a score of 14-6
The Dons kept the momentum going with two more goals from Ella Del Rosario, one more from Finley Graff, and a few more from the RLS, but the Dons prevailed over the Pirates with a final score of 17-8.
Acalanes Dons vs. the Soquel Knights
A few hours later, the Lady Dons were back in the pool facing the Soquel Knights. The last time Acalanes faced the Knights was in the quarter-finals of CIF. The first quarter was evenly matched. Soquel scored first, but Ella Del Rosario got the Dons on the board before the Knights scored again to take the lead at the end of Q1.
The Dons continued to struggle in quarter two as the Soquel Knights took a 5-1 lead. This was a situation Acalanes had not yet faced this season and it didn’t feel good. Finley Graff was able to score with the help from Ella Del Rosario, but the Knights continued their run ending the quarter 6-2.
Another great halftime talk by the coaches really changed the momentum. The Lady Dons came out ready to battle the Knights! Right off the bat, Ella Del Rosario, Finley Graff, and Lily Briones scored three in a row bringing the score to 6-5. The Dons were gaining momentum and Finley Graff sent another one to the twine to tie up the game! But the Knights weren’t going down without a fight and came back with three goals of their own to regain the lead 9-6 at the end of the quarter.
The Dons knew they needed a strong final quarter. It started with two more goals by Finley Graff, and another one from Levand Koopah to tie up the game. Junior Sara Williams scored and the Dons took their first lead of the game! Unfortunately, Soquel was able to sneak a shot in and tie up the game with only seconds left on the clock, sending the game to two 3-minute overtime periods.
Overtime started off great for the Dons! Acalanes controlled the ball well and Finley Graff scored to take the lead, 11-10. The strong defense prevented the Knights from scoring for the remainder of the period. The next 3-minute period was a battle. A quick Soquel goal tied up the game, but Finley Graff responded quickly to regain the lead. The Knights continued to fight, but a great steal from goalie Adelyn Horciza gave the ball back to the Dons. Unfortunately, the exclusions were plentiful and Soquel was able to score and tie the game once again before the period ended, resulting in sudden death over time. The clock was set to 3 minutes and the first team to score would take the win. The Knights won the sprint and scored before anyone had time to take a breath. Truly a heartbreaking loss for the Dons.