The Acalanes Dons hosted the Leland Chargers from San Jose. Last year, the match was close but the Dons won by one goal. The rematch was set for Saturday and the Dons were ready. They came out strong and scored two goals in the first few minutes of the game. Leland did earn their way on the scoreboard with one goal to end the quarter 2-1 in favor of the Dons.
Leland came back strong in Q2 and added three tallies to their score to take the lead. Aca didn’t give up and sent another into the twine before the quarter ended with Leland in the lead 3-4 The game heated up in the second half. Both teams were playing great defense and battling it out in the pool. Aca goal, followed by a Leland goal. Sophomore goal tender, Lucy McShane was phenomenal with a huge number of blocks. When the clock ran out, Leland was still in the lead, 5-6
One quarter to go and freshman phenom Anika Rehn won the sprint to gain the first possession. Senior Sara Williams shot from the top to tie the game 6-6! On the next possession, Sara made an epic field block and freshman Jayna Guiro made a clutch steal and sent the ball up to Sara who scored to regain the lead for the first time this half! With three minutes left, Jayna stuffed the ball at set and Acalanes took possession. Leland got it back and Lucy blocked a rocket from the Chargers with her left hand to keep the lead. With less than a minute left Leland scored and tied the game 7-7, sending the players to overtime!
The first 3-minute overtime started with Anika flying off the wall and then down to the goal to score and regain the lead for Acalanes. Leland shot a backhand in their next possession, but it was no match for Lucy. The Dons weren’t able to capitalize on the next possession, but the Aca defense was outstanding and Lucy wasn’t letting anything in her cage. The first OT ended with the Dons leading 8-7.
3 minutes left in the game and Aca gained the first possession thanks to Anika’s super speed. Sophomore Malin Stone earned an exclusion to give the Dons a power play which Olivia Whipple capitalized on to give the Dons a two-goal lead 10-8! With less than two minutes left, Leland scored to bring the game within one goal. Now 1:13 left on the clock and Leland lobbed the ball to tie up the game. The Dons were not giving up this fight! Sophomore Lily Briones earned an exclusion for another Dons power play and Olivia Whipple sent the ball in the twine to take the lead with 42 seconds left. Leland called a timeout and set up their last play, but the Wall of McShane stood tall and blocked the shot. Leland regained possession but the shot hit the bar and the Dons took the hard-fought victory! The crowd went wild and the thrilling win was celebrated in Monterey and Michigan. Could not be more proud of this group of Dons!!!!!