Coming off a school best 27-0 season, our Lady Dons are looking to continue the magic this year. They began their journey with a comfortable win (13-2) away at Sir Francis Drake HS in Marin. With star Senior, Jewel Roemer (last year’s league MVP) away training with the Junior National Team ahead of the World Championships, the rest of the team stepped up to show that they remain a force. With five Seniors, seven Juniors and just one Sophomore on Varsity the squad has an experienced look. The game started steadily and it was not long before Junior, Alana McCartney, made herself noticed scoring the first three goals. McCartney is a new face on the team having recently transferred to Lafayette from San Diego. At the end of the first quarter the Dons lead 5-0 after further goals from McCartney and Heidi Heffelfinger. The Dons rotated time in the water making sure every player had their chance and by the half it was 8-0 with further goals from Claire Rowell (2) and McCartney. The second half was more of the same with the Lady Dons eventually running out 13-3 winners with the final goal tally at McCartney (7), Rowell (3), Shaw (1), Benisek (1), H Heffelfinger (1).
The following week saw more of the same, with another road win at Tamalpais High School 15-4. The team was again led by newcomer junior McCartney’s 5 goals and 3 from sophomore Heidi Heffelfinger. With a deep JV roster several Freshmen played up on Varsity for this game. Not to be outdone, Daylor Williams and Alexa Carter both got their first Varsity goals! And as usual, Ava Donleavy proved to be stingy in letting goals.
This past weekend it was time to defend our turf at the annual Acalanes Invitational, a tournament featuring 16 norcal teams which we won last year for the first time ever. In addition to being the team everyone wanted to beat, our girls were playing without two of their most critical weapons. Jewel Roemer (now in Spain and Portugal playing for the US in the 20u World Cup) and Claire Rowell, returning All-League junior, who is out with an injury.
On Friday the hometown favorites played in front of a great crowd at Acalanes during lunch period and did not disappoint. Led by senior Mary Beth Heffelfinger’s 7 goals as well as 3 from both Alana McCartney and Heidi Heffelfinger, they cruised to an 18-3 victory over Amador. Later that night they faced The Menlo School and fared similarly – winning 15-6 behind 3 goals apiece for Mary Beth Heffelfinger, sister Heidi Heffelfinger and Alana McCartney. Feeding their teammates with assists (6) and leading the charge defensively (8 steals) was junior Alex Mould.
On Saturday they faced a tough Davis High School Team, who had handily taken care of their opponents on Friday. During the game the girls on both teams were clearly suffering from an over-chlorination of the pool. In the fourth quarter, with the Dons leading 6-5, the health department shut down the pool and the tournament had to be called (hence the 4.75 wins!)
Fortunately they get a much needed 10 day break before their next game, and will be rested and at full strength, ready to continue their streak.
JV Report
On the JV front, the program is showing great depth, also posting convincing wins against Drake (10-1) and Tamalpais (10-6) in their openers. Coming in to the Acalanes Invitational (which has a JV bracket) we had so many girls that we were able to field two full teams. The JV Blue team won their first 3 games (17-1, 18-1 and 6-2) and were slated to play for 1st place. The JV White team won 2 (15-2 and 15-1) lost a close one to Drake (3-5) and were slated to play for 5th place before the Invitational was cancelled.
Lauren Kuo, Abby Montaquila, Jordan Hagglund, Franny Daughters, Sarah McCarthy and Sophie Westen led the teams with goal scoring, and Hagglund, Daughters and Leah Macarewich defended the goal with precision.
The other JV team featured stand out performances by Maizie O’Hare, Daylor Williams and Shayna Parker.
Keep it up Lady Dons!