The Acalanes Women’s Water Polo Team was ready to play as they welcomed the Soquel Knights for the first round of CIF. Soquel sprinted their hearts out, earned the first possession, and scored the first goal of the game. On the next play, freshman Anika Rehn made a quick steal and sent the ball up to senior Sara William who found junior Finley Graff in set who sent the ball to the twine to tie up the game 1-1! The Knights weren’t letting up and scored their second goal to regain the lead. On the next possession, Acalanes earned a powerplay and sophomore Malin Stone capitalized with a great goal from the outside.  It took a few more trips up and down the pool before Soquel scored another goal, but senior Ella Del Rosario returned with her first goal of the game to tie up the game 3-3 as the quarter came to an end. 

 

Quarter 2 started with Anika Rehn winning the sprint but weren’t able to capitalize. The Knights shot but junior goalie Adelyn Horciza blocked it and Malin Stone snagged it and sent it up the pool to Finley Graff who made a sweet backhand goal to gain the lead. Soquel went on a two-goal streak to take the lead, but Finley wasn’t having any of that and stuck the ball in the net to tie up the game once again. Adelyn blocked Soquel’s next attempt and then sophomore Lily Briones stole the ball and scored to give Acalanes the lead once again. With only second left in the half, Soquel set up a 7 on 6 and were denied by Adelyn who blocked their shot to end the quarter with the Dons leading 6-5.

The third quarter started off with several attempts on goal by both teams. The Knights were the first to score and regain the lead. Lily Briones wasn’t backing down and sent the ball into the twine to tie the game 7-7. Soquel scored on the next possession, but on the next play Ella Del Rosario got a great pass from Lily Briones and tied it up 8-8. The Knights were still battling and scored another goal from the outside. The next ball went goalie to goalie with a swift steal by Adelyn Horciza and the quarter ended with another goal by Malin Stone!

The fourth quarter started with a quick goal by Soquel to take the lead 10-9. On the play, Acalanes earned a power play and Finley Graff sent a rocket flying into the cage to tie up the game…again! The Knights scored one but Finley Graff went on a two-goal spree to regain the lead with less than a minute to go. Soquel was able to tie up the game 12-12 and the Dons had 10 seconds to try and score. When the time ran out, the game was tied and the Dons and Knights were continuing their battle in overtime! 

Overtime consists of two 3-minute periods in high school water polo. Soquel got off the wall quick and gained the first possession. Adelyn Horciza blocked their shot and Acalanes tried to capitalize but couldn’t. Adelyn made another great block and the game was tied when the clock ran out. Overtime #2 started with Acalanes winning the sprint but were unable to score. Acalanes defense was great and that along with Adelyn in the cage prevented the Knights from scoring. On the next play, Finley Graff made a great steal and sent the ball down to senior Olivia Whipple who sent the ball flying. Time stopped as the fans got to their feet watching the ball fly past the hands of the Soquel Knights and the goalie and into the cage! The Acalanes fans went wild, but the Knights had possession with one minute left on the clock. The Acalanes defense was on point and when overtime ended, the Dons claimed a 13-12 victory and punched their card to the CIF semi-finals!

On Thursday, the Dons head down to Atherton to take on the Sacred Heart Prep Gators

in the CIF semi-finals at 5pm

Let’s Go Dons!