The Lady Dons headed across the bay to Tamalpias High School for a friendly game of water polo. The Hawks came out strong with a speedy sprint, but junior goalie Adelyn Horciza blocked their first shot and sent the ball down to senior Ella Del Rosario who got the Dons on the scoreboard! Tam got the ball back and earned a power play which was thwarted by senior Olivia Whipple who demonstrated her amazing defense and prevented Tam from scoring. Less than a minute later, Olivia stole the ball, threw it to junior Finley Graff who passed it to sophomore Malin Stone for the second goal of the game. The ball went back and forth with more great steals from Olivia Whipple and freshman Jayna Guiro who sent it up to Olivia with a great pass to Malin for another Aca goal! Tam got the ball back up to their goal, but Adelyn wasn’t letting anything by her! Before the quarter ended, Jayna sent a beautiful pass to Ella for her second goal of the game, Finley Graff shot a great 5-meter, and Adelyn blocked yet another shot to give Acalanes a 5-0 lead at the end of Q1.
Quarter 2 was off to a great start when Malin Stone won the sprint and passed the ball to Ella Del Rosario for her third goal of the game. Tam didn’t make it far before Sara Williams had a superb steal and Aca regained possession. This time, freshman Anika Rehn sent the ball in the twine. Quickly followed by some great teamwork from freshman Elinor Chen to Malin Stone for another goal. The Hawks got the ball to their goal, but Adelyn Horciza had another great block to keep her shutout going! The Dons kept up the momentum when sophomore Lily Briones passed to to Ella Del Roasario who earned one more tally on the scoreboard. Tam headed down to their goal, but Jayna Guiro stole the ball, passed it up to Senior Siena La Rotonda who sent it over to senior Olivia Whipple for a great goal to give Acalanes a 10-0 lead. The Hawks locked in and got themselves on the scoreboard the last minute of the quarter to end the half 10-2.
Tam’s halftime peptalk gave them a burst of energy and they came out fighting! They won the sprint and scored right off the bat. That lit a fire under for the Dons and they answered with three goals from Malin Stone, Finley Graff, and Ella Del Rosario. The Hawks tried to break the momentum, but sophomore goalie Lucy McShane had a great block followed by a steal and then a great throw down to senior Estelle Block who passed to Jayna Guiro for another goal. Tam came back and earned a 5-meter, but Lucy McShane blocked it and sent the ball back down to the Acalanes goal. This time is was freshman Lucy Kerr who scored for the Dons to finish the quarter 15-4.
The final quarter started with a Sara Williams winning the sprint! The ball went back and forth with steals on both sides, some epic defense by the Dons and some great blocks by Lucy McShane. Senior Sadie Hendrickson had a great steal and swam the ball down the pool and passed to sophomore Emiko Kuniyoshi scored her first of the game. The Hawks kept their talons out until the final buzzer and scored a few more goals before the end of the game when the Dons claimed the win 16-8.
What’s up next up or the Lady Dons?
This Friday, the girls head up to Davis for the first annual Natalie Carr West Memorial Invitational Tournament where they will face the Monte Vista Mustangs, the Arroyo Grande Eagles, the Davis Blue Devils, and the Granite Bay Grizzlies. The girls are excited for a fun weekend of polo!
Next week, the Lady Dons have three home games:
Wednesday 9/24 vs. Archbishop Mitty
4:00pm Varsity
5:00pm JV
Thursday 9/25 vs. Redwood
4:30pm Varsity
5:30pm JV
Saturday 9/27 vs. Soquel
11:00pm Varsity
12:00pm JV