Friday night, January 17th, the Dons traveled to Northgate for a very chilly and challenging night of Varsity Women’s soccer. We knew going into this match-up that the Broncos had beaten Campo 5-1 and shut out College Park 2-0, and of course we had just shut out both Clayton Valley 2-0 and Benicia 4-0.
The Broncos came out strong with 2 early shots on goal broken up by Edie Berzansky and Reese Tierney. Soon after Northgate earned their first corner of the night, well defended by Stella Hamilton and Avery DeMent, ultimately bouncing into the hands of our keeper, Melisa Adatepe. Lucca DeBiasse, Nicole Nguyen, and Alex Salazar headed up the offense, which led to a free kick by Tatum Keely that went just wide right of the net. The Broncos responded with a run up the right line, broken up by Cassidy Smith.
Another Northgate corner resulted in a Broncos’ header shot bouncing off the crossbar for a Dons’ goal kick. Northgate took a free kick that was broken up by Keely and cleared by Nguyen, followed by another Broncos cross caught by Adatepe. Lily Polkinhorn sent a through ball to Nguyen whose cross was blocked by a Bronco. Smith threw in a “cross” to Livi Foster whose shot on goal was scooped up by the Broncos’ keeper. Northgate took another corner with a header shot wide left. A questionable foul call on the Dons unfortunately led to a Northgate free kick ending in a header shot for goal #1 for Northgate.
Acalanes wasted no time responding with Polkinhorn sending a pass through to DeBiasse for shot and goal #1 for Aca! The Dons kept the momentum going into the end of the first half with Hamilton sending a through ball to Nguyen, unfortunately going out of bounds, and Dani Green sending a ball to Hamilton for a long strong shot that was barely blocked by goalie. Nguyen got the rebound shot opportunity, but it was broken up by the Broncos defense.
The Dons started the second half with Keely passing to Tierney passing to Nguyen who nutmegged a Bronco but was foiled by a second defender. Nguyen followed up by working the line and passing to Salazar which resulted in another confusing foul call. Smith then took a nice run battling some Broncos up the line, resulting in a Dons throw in. Polkinhorn sent another pass to Salazar for a shot just wide right and Nguyen followed with another attempt saved by the keeper. Northgate responded with a long pass kicked clear of the goal by Adatepe coming out of the box. Sisi Houston juked her defender but her pass was disrupted by another Broncos’ defender. Houston applied immediate pressure, forcing a Bronco’s errant pass right to Smith. DeMent, Salazar, and Houston then moved the ball up the left line. This resulted in a Smith throw in “cross” to Foster who deflected to DeBiasse for Aca goal #2 of the night!
More offensive action from Salazar, Nguyen, and Houston, led to Houston sending a through ball to Salazar that was narrowly broken up by the Bronco defense. Northgate followed with a through ball past a diving Adatepe to score Northgate goal #2. The Dons kept up the defense with a Broncos’ cross blocked by Tierney. Northgate took another free kick for a header shot that was saved by Adatepe. Salazar, Polkinhorn, and Nguyen kept up the offensive fight, while more defensive force from DeMent, Hamilton, Nguyen, and Smith held the Broncos back to end the game at a 2 – 2 tie.
The Dons Women will face Miramonte at Home next Thursday, January 23rd!
