On a beautiful Tuesday St. Patrick’s day evening, the 5-1 Varsity Girls Lacrosse team returned home to take on the 5-0 College Park Falcons. Although the Dons were riding a 7 game win streak against the Falcons, they knew this year could be a challenge since the Falcons were undefeated and ranked #23 in California.
Perhaps sensing a environment conducive to a rowdy atmosphere, Athletic Director Randy Takahashi asked co-Captain Emily Roberts and two Falcons athletes to make an announcement to the fans pre-game about the importance of good sportsmanship. The game lived up to the hype as it featured 9 ties, 6 lead changes, 27 goals, 11 goalie saves, and an overtime golden goal for the Dons by Kelly Reidenbach off of a wild sequence where the Dons regained possession off a yellow card given to the College Park coach on what looked like a play that could have led to a penalty shot for the Falcons.
Emily Roberts led the team on offense, scoring 7 of the Dons 14 goals on a dizzying array of 1:1 moves and assisted shots on cuts to the goal. Grace Colaco filled up the stat sheet again, scoring a hat trick while securing 6 draw controls, 3 loose balls, dishing out 3 assists, and securing several steals including one where it looked like a basketball player rejecting a shot at the rim. She also had a sequence at the end of regulation where she stole the ball as the Falcons were looking to run out the clock, and then managed to score the game-tying goal on a penalty shot which helped send the game to overtime.
In addition to Kelly’s golden goal, she also had 2 other goals, and Christina Hageboeck scored the remaining goal for the Dons on a penalty shot. Kate Beaver and Reese Imrie chipped in 3 and 2 draw controls respectively. Charlotte Gellman had 2 loose balls controlled, while Cate Mercier and Kelly each had one. All of these statistics were achieved despite the fact that the Falcons played very aggressive defense, keeping pressure on the Dons’ attackers and midfielders the entire game.
The defense continued play a critical part in the Dons success. Kate Uffelman had 4 loose balls controlled, Reese Tierney had 3, Edie Berzansky had 2, and Grace Eppinger had one. Reese set the tone for the defense. In addition to the loose balls controlled, she had several steals, including one where she knocked the stick out of the Falcon player’s hands, and also had a few plays where she controlled the ball the entire length of the field setting up the offense for shot opportunities. Sara Hession had 4 saves in goal, including several on tough penalty shots.
The team hits the road to take on Carondelet on Thursday at 7pm
