As the Friday Night Lights became increasingly obscured by the descending fog – and the metal bleachers less accommodating – our fighting Dons kicked off against Maria Carrillo. Not a lone young woman facing a blue wave, it turns out, but a scrappy team from up north in Santa Rosa ready to take on their opponents.

And ready they were… for about 15 minutes until these remarkable Dons got Maria’s number. That’s when the shooting spree, passing synchronization, and defensive machinery kicked into gear and the Dons controlled the game through to the end. Allie Schofield (#12) had a shot on goal that won the Dons a corner, which went to Casey Lerch (#11) for a beautiful out-of-the-box shot, just shy.

Hannah Hoover (#2) came in and shook things up with an instant clean pass, forced corner, and contribution to a trick play that resulted in what would have been another point if we were playing the other football.

At the 24-minute mark, Averly Ammerman (#19) put the Dons on the board with a gorgeous shot, 1-0! Maria Carrillo answered quickly with an offensive charge, which was handled brilliantly by Alexa Wall (#22), followed by a genius save by keeper Brooke Lewis (#0) whose early game jumping jacks surely helped. There was a great corner and follow up shot by Avery Titus (#3), then another rocket into the back of the net – again by Averly – with 13 minutes to go, 2-0!

And that was half. Quick PSA about the cold: The tule fog is real, y’all. Don’t be a hero.

Second half got started with a great ball up the line by the always solid Audrey Tseng (#4), and super thoughtful building from the back from Avery. Maria Carrillo clearly had a talking to over the break and stepped up their intensity and press, coming in fast and furious, but the Dons met them and then some.

Ruby Coy (#9) hit a perfect corner to Casey, who fired into the goal, 3-0. Averly, looking for her hat trick, took a textbook free kick, which ricocheted off the goalie. But Avery was there to put it away, 4-0! The rest of the game saw more phenomenal teamwork – crisp passing from Lucy Hamilton (#8), calm and collected defense from Farren Staino (#16) and Courtney Hamill (#10), and smooth leadership from Coach Jose.

Travel with us to Campo for our cross-town rivalry game on Wednesday at 5p!

Let’s GO Dons!