The Acalanes Dons boys’ varsity lacrosse team took on their first in-league matchup this year against the Las Lomas Knights. The game began as a defensive stalemate. For the first eight minutes, both squads traded blows in a scoreless tug-of-war. The silence was finally broken when Luke Dafferner found a lane, unleashing a shot into the back of the net to put the Dons on the board. While the Knights answered back a minute later to tie the game, Acalanes reclaimed the momentum just before the first quarter buzzer. With only nine seconds left, Grant Condy passed it off to Jan Korzeniowski, who buried it to give the Dons a 2-1 lead.
As the second quarter began, the skies opened up—but the heavy rain proved to be nothing compared to the heavy reign of the Acalanes offense. Dafferner struck again with a gritty unassisted goal, followed shortly by a Condy-to-Caleb Mason connection. The highlight of the half came just before the whistle: Grant Condy worked his way around the crease and went airborne, firing a spectacular diving shot past the keeper to send the Dons into the locker room up 5-1.
The second half brought steady rain and even steadier dominance. Defender Andrew Iams picked up a long pole for the night and snagged a clutch interception to kickstart a fast break that found Korzeniowski for his second goal of the night. Jackson Tseng joined the party next, dodging through a swarm of Knight defenders for a solo score to push the lead to 7-1. To put the exclamation, point on the evening, Condy stepped up from the 25-yard line and launched a final cannon, sealing the 8-1 victory under the lights. The defense was strong all evening with pressure and persistence from Grady Branagh, David Gallacher, Ryan Yun, Cade Korpita and the impenetrable Kyle Sanftner who finished the night with 14 saves including a “double save”, when a shot ricoched off and another shot was fired and saved.
Although a wet one for mid-April, it was a great start to league play as the Dons took the night and buried the Knights.
Way to go boys!
