On Tuesday, the Girls Varsity Lacrosse team travelled to Danville to take on San Ramon Valley, a team ranked #1 in NCS, #3 in California, and #20 in the country. Everything about the experience was impressive. Great individual and team play, tremendous coaching, impeccable sportsmanship, nice venue, and professional game production. The National Anthem recording was performed by Anthem Lights (aka wannabe Back Street Boys) as a digital American flag waved on the scoreboard. The scoreboard also rotated to other graphics including the glaring eyes and body of a wolf, and pictures of each Wolves player after they scored. The announcers commentary was spot on, and they even gave updates on the Warriors Timberwolves playoff game.
Although the game was never in question as the Wolves jumped out to a 9-0 lead, the Dons never gave up and nearly matched them goal for goal for the rest of the game. Acalanes got on the board after Senior Lucca DeBiasse (#5), who recorded 4 goals on the evening, converted a pass from fellow Senior Megan Churchill (#15).
Junior Reese Imrie (#17) scored the Dons second goal on a free shot.
Megan scored the third goal for the Dons.
The Wolves pushed their lead to 19-3 by the end of the third quarter. In the fourth quarter, the Dons outscored the Wolves 4-0. Megan scored another goal and Lucca scored the last 3 goals. On the other end, the defense did a great job limiting the Wolves offense, with the assist coming from the Wolves coaches who took their foot off the gas a bit in a show of good sportsmanship.
The lopsided score also provided an opportunity for additional playing time for many of the Dons seniors and three players from the Dons JV team, Ella Culbertson (#42), Julia Lyons (#36), and Cate Mercier (#16), who were welcomed to the team yesterday with activities that included hitting a pinata and getting froyo after practice. The plus-minus for the JV players was a plus 3 for the game. I won’t mention who pointed that out, but will just say that it might have been a parent from that team.
In addition to Megan, Senior Campbell Evans (#4) and Junior Charlotte Gellman (#11) also had assists in the game. Sophomore Grace Colaco (#10) led the team with 5 draw controls.
Senior Claire Zimmerman (#3) and Junior Kate Uffelman (#38) tied for the team lead in loose balls controlled with two each. The defense, including Seniors Claire Zimmerman (#3) and Addie McShane (#30), Junior Kate Uffelman (#38), and Sophomores Reese Tierney (#21) and Grace Eppinger (#7), played hard all game. Junior goalie Sarah Hession (#75) saved 6 shots for the game.
This is my 9th time writing an end of season article (1 football, 2 baseball, 2 tennis, 2 soccer, and now 2 lacrosse) and it never gets easier. Why? Because it means the players won’t be able to see their friends at the next practice, most of the seniors who have played the sport for years won’t have the opportunity to play competitively in college, and we as fans won’t be able to cheer on this remarkable team again.
I want to conclude by recognizing everyone who helped make this season happen. Thank you to the girls for competing in each and every game, Krista Imrie for handling everything off the field, Katie Roberts for being the Booster Rep and sharing the post game write up duties with me, Brian Mikalis for being the team photographer, Lee Gellman and Andy Uffelman for doing the scorebook, and Andy Eppinger and Mike Churchill for running the scoreboard, the referees, our athletic trainer Chris Clark, and all of you for driving carpools, cheering on the team, and reading these articles. Most importantly, I wanted to give a huge shout out to our amazing coaches Giles Imrie and Mark Rurka. Their commitment and dedication to the team was evident as the team bonded and improved tremendously as the season went along. Rumor has it that our Athletic Director Randy Takahashi approached them after the game with lucrative multi-year contract extension offers, so let’s hope they sign on the dotted line. Go Dons!
Additional pictures from the game can be found here: https://photos.app.goo.gl/yjTqRL2kqovu7DJg6