Acalanes rolled out the blue carpet treatment to honor the 6 seniors on the women’s water polo team. The blowup A could be seen by small planes passing over as the seniors and their families were honored for their hard work and dedication to the team.
The Dons had a full senior lineup to start the game! While Northgate won the sprint, it didn’t take long for senior Ella Del Rosario to snag it back and score the first goal of the game. The Broncos had trouble finding the cage on the next possession, but Siena La Rotonda swam the ball up and sent it to Ella who sent another ball to the back of the net.
Northgate tried again, but Ella pushed the ball under and regained possession to earn a hat trick with a beautiful lob right over the goalie’s head. The Broncos were able to get one shot off, but junior Adelyn Horciza made a great block to end the quarter with the Dons leading 3-0.
Quarter 2 started with a stellar sprint by freshman Anika Rehn which was quickly sent down the pool to sophomore Kylie Kaplan who sent it over to freshman Jayna Guiro for her first goal of the game. The Dons continued to dominate as sophomore Malin Stone sprinted up the pool and passed to freshman Elinor Chen who stuck the ball in the twine.
Adelyn continued to keep all Northgate balls out of the cage while the Dons kept the ball rolling with great steals by Jayna Guiro and Malin Stone as well as some sweet teamwork from Malin to Elinor for her second goal of the night! The next Dons duo came from seniors Estelle Block to Sara Williams to end the half with a 7-0 Dons lead.
Freshman Lucy Kerr got right to work in the third quarter to score her first goal of the game. Sophomore goalie Lucy McShane took over in the cage and contined the strong defense blocking everything Northgate attempted. Sophomore Emiko Kuniyoshi sent one in the twine to bring Acalanes lead 9-0. On the next play, Lucy earned a penalty shot. Junior Finley Graff made quick work of it and added one more tally to the scoreboard. The Broncos got a second wind at the end of the quarter and slid one into the goal to get themselves on the scoreboard. Lucy was back in action with two amazing close range blocks. Elinor Chen got a pass from Kylie and used her lefty power to earn her hat trick with 6 seconds left in the quarter. Northgate attempted a long range shot at the last second but it was no match for Lucy who blocked it to end the quarter 11-2.
Elinor Chen was having a great night and kept it going by winning the Q4 sprint! After a few treks up and down the pool, Elinor passed to Emiko who sunk her second goal of the game. Bronco possession didn’t last long as Sara Williams snagged it back and then a penalty was earned by Finley Graff. Sara took the 5-meter and scored easily!
Northgate earned their own power play but were unable to capitalize which gave the back back to Acalanes who set up a great play and earned one more tally from sophomore Lily Briones. The Broncos continued to fight and scored their third goal of the game with a few minutes left in the game. Acalanes answered quickly with some great teamwork from Lucy Kerr into Lily Briones who scored her second goal from set. Lucy continued to stand tall in the cage and blocked the last few shots taken by Northgate and Kylie Kaplan had two great steals as the clock was winding down. When the final buzzer ended the game, the Dons took the 15-3 win.
Truly a wonderful evening to celebrate our fabulous six seniors. A big thank you to all the families who came out to cheer on the Dons and make the night magical!
