This Saturday evening, February 22, the ACA Women’s Varsity Soccer team faced the #1 seed Carondelet Cougars on their home pitch in Walnut Creek for the Quarterfinal match of the NCS playoffs. This highly anticipated match drew quite the crowd of DONS supporters to show up and stick around, not letting the unanticipated rain dampen their Acalanes spirit! The Cougars came out fighting, keeping the Dons defense on their toes, with a Carondelet cross blocked and caught by keeper Melisa Adatepe. Edie Berzansky broke up another cross, Tatum Keely intercepted a Cougar through ball, and Carondelet’s first free kick was saved by Adatepe.
Stella Hamilton and Alex Salazar worked together up front for an attack, but were disrupted by the Cougar defense. The Cougars continued the offensive pressure with back-to-back goal attempts but were blocked by a ready Adatepe. Lily Polkinhorn and Tori Hiatt worked the midfield to win the ball but were overtaken by the Cougars. Carondelet kicked a shot wide right, regrouped to send a through ball that was intercepted by Adatepe. Unfortunately, a quick short cross to the Cougar striker resulted in a shot and goal #1 at the 28th minute for Carondelet.
The following Cougars corner kick turned into a free kick for the Dons due to a foul. Polkinhorn took the ball to Nicole Nguyen, who sent it to Salazar for a nice run towards the goal, but the attack was broken up by the Carondelet defense and keeper. The Cougars took another shot wide left, another attempt deflected by Cassidy Smith, and another Carondelet corner for a deflection shot on goal, easily picked up by Adatepe. Salazar made a break for it, almost getting a shot off, but was thwarted by a Cougar. Smith made a trademark throw-in “cross” in front of the goal, a Cougar attempted a defensive header, but Lucca DeBiasse got there first with a two-touch shot and GOAL #1 for the DONS!
Leila Hamidi came in to support the midfield, winning the ball for another Dons throw-in. Debiasse earned a free kick after a rough Cougar take-down, sending a through ball into the box but it was intercepted by the keeper. Nguyen took the ball to Salazar for a cross to Hamilton but was blocked by a defender. Taylor Mikalis passed a through ball to Hamilton aswell, but the goalie cut it off. DeBiasse sent in another free kick, moved along by Mikalis tipping it, but the ball was scooped by the Cougars’ keeper.
Carondelet sent a slew of shots on goal, successively cleared by Keely, twice by Berzansky, and Adatepe. Nguyen threaded the ball to Mikalis, who sent a pass to Salazar on wing for a shot just over the crossbar. Just as the final minutes ticked down to end the first half, Carondelet broke through for goal #2.
Salazar opened up the second half with another breakaway, her shot veering wide left due to a Cougars foul. A yellow card on Carondelet earned Salazar a free kick shot from the top of the box, bouncing off the wall and into the hands of the keeper. Carondelet took another corner headed around by some Cougs, initially blocked by Polkinhorn, then cleared by Smith. The Cougars made another attempt, sending the ball wide right, followed by another run towards the net but cut off by Smith. Another Cougars corner kick resulted in a deflected shot over the crossbar, followed by a Carondelet free kick into the box headed out by Berzansky. Another Carondelet cross and shot was blocked by Berzansky, followed by another cross and deflected shot off target and picked up by Adatepe.
Another Cougars attack was broken up by Keely and Berzansky with nice work in the midfield to win the ball for the Dons. The tide quickly turned with the Cougs making a quick shot but over the goal, followed by a cross handily blocked by Smith and cleared by Keely. Salazar made a throw-in assist to Hamilton who sent a beautiful shot into the upper right corner for GOAL #2 for the DONS!
Sisi Houston joined Smith and Berzansky to break up a Cougars challenge up front, followed by a Carondelet corner off the far post cleared by Reese Tierney. The Cougars sent a long ball into the box, but Adatepe was ready for the catch. If you blinked you would’ve missed how fast Hamilton suddenly picked up a loose ball, turned, and lofted it just over the goalie’s head for GOAL #3 for the DONS!
The Cougars regrouped and sent another couple attempts on goal, cleared by Adatepe and Berzansky. The Cougs then sent the ball bouncing around the front of the Dons’ box, and managed to get a quick shot past Adatepe but it was cleared by Keely who had moved to protect the open goal! The Dons kept up their defensive fight until the very end, with another Carondelet cross stopped by Adatepe, a free kick blocked by Smith, and the Dons as a whole just fighting to clear everything! It was an unbelievable and incredible 3-2 WIN for the DONS!
Come out to support our Acalanes Dons this Wednesday, February 26th at 7PM, when they face the Amador Valley Dons in Pleasanton for the Div 1 NCS Semifinal match!