The Acalanes Dons headed down to Atherton for the 22nd year of the NorCal Women’s Water Polo Tournament hosted by Sacred Heart Prep. In 2023, Acalanes placed 2nd, and in 2024, the Dons placed 5th, but this year the Dons were ready for a great weekend of tough water polo compention.
Menlo School
First up was Menlo School. The Dons got right to work and at the end of the first quarter, senior Ella Del Rosario, junior Finley Graff, and sophomore Malin Stone scored to give Acalanes an 8-2 lead. The second quarter started with a great goal by sophomore Lily Briones assisted by Malin Stone. Malin followed that up with her own goal to strengthen the lead. Junior goalie Adelyn Horciza was protecting the goal with numerous great blocks. The Dons defense was strong with shot blocks by senior Sara Williams and Olivia Whipple. Freshman Lucy Kerr and Jayna Guiro were stealing machines to help keep the Dons lead. Sophomore goalie Lucy McShane took over in goal the second half and kept up the strong defense. The Dons continued to play strong defense in the field and the offense was looking pretty good with goals from Lily and freshman Elinor Chen. Sophomore Emiko Kuniyoshi drew an exclusion and Kylie Kaplan had a great steal before the game ended. The Dons took with win with a score of 13-6.
Leland
The Leland Chargers wanted revenge from two weeks ago when Acalanes beat them in OT by one goal. The Dons were ready, but it was certainly a battle. Malin Stone easily won the sprint but the Dons had trouble finding the net and the chargers scored the first goal of the game. Finley Graff answered that goal with one of her own to get the Dons on the board. Leland wasn’t letting up and added two more tallies to their score before the end of the quarter. The second quarter started out with great blocks by Adelyn Horciza and another goal from Finley Graff. The offense got help from steals from freshman Anika Rehn and Olivia Whipple. Malin had a great field block followed by goals from Lily Briones and Ella Del Rosario to end the half 6-4 in favor of the Acalanes. The teams regrouped at halftime and were ready to go when the second half started. Adelyn was a blocking machine and Acalanes increased their lead to 10-7 with goals from Lily, Olivia, Ella, and Finley. The final quarter was DONimated by the Dons who continued their strong defense and added more tallies to their score from Sara, Olivia, and Ella. When the game ended, the Dons took their 13-8 victory and headed to a team dinner with chips, salsa and lots of dancing to celebrate making it to the semi-finals!
Sacred Heart Prep
The host and reigning winners, Sacred Heart Prep, were first up on Saturday. The Gators came out strong and won the sprint and scored the first goal of the game. The Dons were able to fight back and Lily sent the ball to the back of the net to tie the game 1-1 at the end of the quarter. The second quarter started with Malin winning the sprint and heading down the pool to score and give the Dons the lead! Ella liked that and added her first goal of the game but Sacred Heart answered that with one more tally of their own followed by another to tie up the game once again. Olivia Whipple drew an exclusion giving Acalanes a powerplay and a great outside shot by Finley Graff who sunk the ball in the twine and regained the lead 4-3 at the end of the half.
Malin started the second half off with another speedy sprint but SHP scored three goals in a row to regain the lead. Malin sent a great pass to Finley who was able to capitalize and bring the game within one, but SH scored one last goal before the quarter ended to keep their 7-5 lead. The final quarter started with another great sprint by Malin and a goal from Lily to bring Acalanes within one goal. The steals from Jayne Guiro and Sara Williams showed the strength and determination of this team, but in the end, SHP took the 7-6 win.
Arroyo Grande
The 3rd place game was set: Arroyo Grande vs. Acalanes. The Arroyo Grande Eagles were excited for the rematch with Acalanes after falling to the Dons 9-6 back in September at the Heather Carr Tournament in Davis. The Eagles came out strong by winning the sprint, but Ella had a quick steal and sent the ball up to Sara who passed it to Finley for goal #1. Adelyn made a great block and on the next play, Lily added one more to the scoreboard. AG came back strong and scored two in a row to tie up the game but Finely sent the ball to Ella who scored and regained the lead. Q2 started with Anika Rehn winning the sprint and Sara sending the ball to Ella who sent her second in the twine. Sara’s defense was super strong with a reat field block and pushing the AG player out so far they had to throw away the ball at the buzzer. AG scored on the next play but Jayna sent a beautiful pass to Lily who scored her second of the game. The quarter ended with a great goal from Malin to end the quarter 6-4. The second half started with the Eagles winning the sprint and scoring right off the bat to bring the game within one. Ella got right back to work and scored on a powerplay and Adelyn had three solid blocks in a row. Sara stole the ball and sent it to Finley who had a great backhand goal to end the quarter 7-5 Acalanes. The final quarter started with Acalanes winning the sprint but Acalanes couldn’t convert. Olivia stole the ball and sent it to Finley who earned her hat trick but AG wasn’t giving up and scored one more to bring it within one. One the next play, Finley sent the ball to Ella who shot a rocket to the back of the cage. AG continued to fight and scored another goal to bring it within two but Sara had a great field block and then as the game clock was winding down, Ella threw a lob from half court that sunk in the high corner and clinched 3rd place for Acalanes.
What’s up next for the Dons?
Come cheer on the Dons this Wednesday 10/29 when they take on Campo @ Acalanes
Varsity 6pm
JV 7pm