The Girls Varsity Lacrosse team hosted cross-town rival Miramonte Matadors in a Friday night lights game. Although they ended up falling 16-12, the girls played perhaps their best game of the young season in a very entertaining game against a very tough team that they would have won if not for the second quarter where they were outscored 7-0.
On offense, the Dons started off strong. The Dons got on the board first when Megan Churchill made a great pass to Emily Roberts that she converted. 1-0 Dons. The Matadors scored the next three goals before Grace Colaco had an assist to Maya Stafford to close the gap to 3-2. Each team scored one more goal in the quarter, with Megan Churchill converting the goal for the Dons on a great shot. Despite out-playing and out-shooting the Matadors in the first quarter, the Dons found themselves down 4-3 after a few unlucky misses and great stops by the Miramonte goalkeeper.
The second quarter was dominated by the Matadors. Despite the lopsided score in the quarter, there were a few bright spots. Stella Hamilton had a good shot, goalie Sara Hession had a great save, and Claire Zimmerman showed her toughness on the defensive end including one play where she stole the ball and ran it upfield despite getting hit multiple times by the Matadors that ultimately led to a yellow card.
The Dons outscored the Matadors 9-5 in the second half, including starting the third quarter with 4 unanswered goals. Megan Churchill got the scoring started, then Grace Colaco scored, Cat Liu scored, and Grace Colaco scored again on long run and shot. The Matadors scored 4 of the last 5 goals of the quarter, with the Dons goal coming courtesy of Grace Colaco who got the hat trick in the quarter on a sweet underhand scoop shot after a nice steal.
In the fourth quarter, the Dons defense of Claire Zimmerman, Reese Tierney, Edie Berzansky, Addie McShane and others held to Matadors to a single goal. On offense, Cat Liu scored on a free shot, Maya Stafford scored on a nice free shot assist from Stella Hamilton, Cat Liu scored again to get her hat trick on an assist from Grace Colaco, and Stella Hamilton scored the final goal on a free shot. Reese Imrie played great in the draw circle, securing 7 draw controls for the game.
I have to confess that I used ChatGPT to write the last article. Yes, I am ashamed of myself, but after writing several hundred Boosters Articles over the last 3 years, hopefully you can forgive me. Beyond the obvious challenge of the technology sounding like a robot wrote the article, you also miss all of the activity off the field. And this game had a few doozies.
The first was a small rat that decided to run on the field during the game. The girls on the field seemed unfazed, but some of the opposing fans in the stands started shrieking like the rat was going to run across the field, across the track, open the gate, climb the stairs, and then make its way up to their seats. Not to worry. One of the coaches used a couple lacrosse sticks to pick it up and carry it out of harms way. Perhaps this was one of the rats that ate the inflatable Acalanes “A” that we now need to replace.
The other surprise were the fireworks at the end of the game. Literally. Someone decided to celebrate the Miramonte victory by setting off two fireworks. Not like throwing a bang snap or lighting a sparkler, but full on fireworks like you would see at Disneyland. Was quite the exciting evening. Go Dons!
The girls hit the road to take on Cal High on Tuesday at 7pm