The Dons showed up to cheer on the 2025 Acalanes Women’s Water Polo team in the North Coast Sectionals on Saturday. The stands were packed and when the first whistle blew, you could feel the electricity at the Soda Center. Quarter one started off with Carondelet gaining the first posession, but senior Sara Williams saw on opportunity to steal the ball and sent it up to freshman Anika Rhen who passed it to senior Ella Del Rosario who scored the first goal of the game! The Cougars answered with a goal of their own on the next play to tie the game. On the next possession, Sara Williams was back in action and this time sent the ball to junior Finley Graff who regained the lead with Acalanes’ second goal of the game. CHS responded again with a goal of their own but senior Olivia Whipple got a great pass from freshman Jayna Guiro and sunk the ball in the twine to snag a one-goal lead. Junior goalie Adelyn Horciza made a great block and sophomore Lily Briones sent the ball up to Finley Graff who scored giving Aca a two-goal lead. Carondelet was back at it and scored two in a row to tie the game back up, but right before the quarter Lily Briones found Olivia Whipple who was able to send another one to the back of the cage giving the Dons a 6-5 lead.
Quarter two started off with Anika Rehn winning the sprint and sophomore Malin Stone scoring right off the bat to give the Dons a two-goal lead. CHS fought back and brought the score within one but on the next possession Malin passed to Anika who scored! Then Carondelet went on a two-goal spree to tie up the game once again. The rest of the quarter looked more like a swim race than a polo game with lots of blocks happening at both ends. The final play was the most insane block by Adelyn Horciza to keep the tie game going into the half.
The third quarter started off with a lot of exclusions and no scoring until the last two minutes of the quarter. CHS was the first to score, but Sara Williams answered with a goal of her own to keep the game tied 9-9. Carondelet fought back with two goals in a row, but Anika found Malin who sent a gorgeous outside shot to the back of the cage to end the quarter with the Dons down by one and a score of 10-11. Carondelet got right to work fourth quarter and scored to give the Cougars a two-goal lead. The Dons kept fighting with great steals by Sara Williams and Adelyn Horciza. Malin Stone sent a rocket skipping past the Carondelet goalie to bring the game within one. Unfortunately, CHS found some great energy at the end of the quarter and scored two more goals to take the NCS title, 11-14. It was a well-fought battle and a tough loss for the Acalanes team.
The Dons only got a few days rest before the first round of CIF.
Acalanes hosts the Soquel Knights at home on Tuesday, 11/18 at 5:00pm.
Come out and cheer on your Dons!!!!!