The stands were electric as the Acalanes Dons and Las Lomas Knights faced off in the pool. The Knights won the first sprint but junior Adelyn Horciza protected the goal with two outstanding blocks in a row. Senior Ella Del Rosario got the Dons on the scoreboard with a great assist from sophomore Lily Briones. After another great block by Adelyn, Lily was back at it with a sweet pass to Malin Stone for goal #2. The Knights charged back and earned a few tallies on the board but Ella sent another one to the back of the net to regain the lead followed by a great power play that ended in a goal from sohomore Finley Graff to end the quarter 4-2.
Acalanes won the sprint to start Q2 but Las Lomas snagged the ball back and headed to the cage. However, Adelyn blocked the shot and Aca regained possession. Malin Stone caught the ball, made a few outstanding fakes and sent the ball in the twine. The Knights continued to fight and earned a penalty shot, but it was nothing Adelyn couldn’t handle with another EPIC block! The Dons finished off the quarter with steals from Anika and Finley and another two goals from Malin and Ella to end the quarter with a score of 7-2.
The Dons won sprint #3 and Ella Del Rosario sent the ball up to Lily Briones who scored her first goal of the quarter. Las Lomas came back and scored one more for the Knights. Senior Olivia Whipple showed great teamwork with a perfect pass to Ella for another Aca goal. The Knights got right back to work and sent another goal to the back of the twine. The Aca sophomore duo of Lily Briones and Malin Stone added three more goals to end the quarter 11-4.
Las Lomas won the quarter 4 sprint, but Adelyn blocked their shot and the Dons were able to capitalize on their power play from a great outside shot from Malin Stone. Ella Del Rosario got a great pass from senior Sara Williams to add one more tally mark for the Dons. The next few minutes consisted of a lot of swimming and steals from Olivia Whipple, Kylie Kaplan, and Elinor Chen. The final goal of the game came from Anika Rehn who suprised the goalie with a great cross-cage shot.
While the score did not show how intense this matchup was, the teams both put everything they had into this game. The Dons had more tallies on the scoreboard, but their defense was truly outstanding. A lot of great teamwork and hustle from these Lady Dons as they head into October!
