This weekend the Lady Dons returned to Menlo School in Atherton to defend the Amanda MacDonald Invitational tournament that they had won for the last two years. A great team effort, lead from the front by seniors Mary Beth Heffelfinger and Jewel Roemer, saw the Lady Dons emerge victorious and retain the title. At the same time, they made a strong statement that the Lady Dons are the team to beat in northern California this season.

The Dons started strongly on Friday afternoon, cruising through the first game against an inexperienced team from Carlmont HS (coached by Olympic silver medalist Bernice O’Connor). The Lady Dons demonstrated their impressive squad depth with strong contributions from their travelling freshmen amigos with goals from Maizie O’Hare (4) and Alexa Carter (1) and 7 saves from goalkeeper Audrey Cox. Other scores came from Jewel Roemer (3), Mala Neuman (2), Alana McCartney (2), Heidi Heffelfinger (2), Angelina Shaw (2), Mary Beth Heffelfinger (1), Emma Miller (1), Caroline Schirmer (1) and Claire Rowell (1). The final score ending at 20-1.

The second game late on Friday saw the Dons against another team coached by a former Olympian, Castilleja HS coached by hall of famer Brenda Villa. The Lady Dons put up another impressive showing with Jewel Roemer leading the way with 6 goals and further scores from Heidi Heffelfinger (4), McCartney (3), Schirmer (2) and Mary Beth Heffelfinger (2). The score finishing at 17-5.

Saturday saw the competition step up a gear with the semi-final in the morning against a strong Soquel HS team boasting a 5-1 record. The game started fiercely with both teams pressing hard and the Dons needing to demonstrate their suffocating defense. As the game progressed the Dons began to get on top with their speed and skill coming to the fore. At the end of the first quarter it was 5-1 to the Dons. The second quarter went the same way as the first with the Lady Dons defending fiercely and counter attacking with pace to make it 9-2 at the half. By the third quarter the game was as good as settled with the Lady Dons now up 13-3. The Dons took the chance to relax in the fourth quarter and the game finished 16-8. Claire Rowell lead the way in scoring with 5 goals with further scores from McCartney (3), Roemer (3), Heidi Heffelfinger (2), Shaw (1), Mary Beth Heffelfinger (1) and Neuman (1). Further contributions came from Mary Beth Heffelfinger with 4 assists and Alex Mould with 4 assists and 5 steals. Goalkeeper Ava Donleavy blocked 6 shots.

Saturday afternoon brought the final and the game that everyone wanted to see between two teams boasting unbeaten records (and possibly the two best high school teams in northern California this season). Sacred Heart Prep came into the game with a 10-0 record and a recent victory away against Campolindo 10-6. The game started with a brutal intensity and it was clear that SHP meant business with their physical approach, but the Dons more than matched them with their hard press and lightning counters. As the first quarter progressed the SHP crowd began to go quiet as they realized that the Lady Dons were equal to the defensive challenge and could hit back with lightning fast counter attacks. The first quarter finished 2-0 to the Lady Dons and in the second quarter they began to impose their will with more suffocating defense, high skill and rapid counter attacking. At the half the Lady Dons were up 7-1. The Dons kept up their intensity in the third quarter and produced two stand out moves. The first began with a rapid counter attack by Emma Miller who fed Jewel Roemer, who drew two defenders before playing in Miller to score. The second saw a long pass out from goalie Ava Donleavy to Caroline Schirmer who found Roemer in front of the goal with an inch perfect pass, for Roemer to score. With the game won the Lady Dons played out the fourth quarter to finish the game 15-6 and win the Amanda MacDonald Invitational for the third time. Scorers for the Dons were Rowell (5), Mary Beth Heffelfinger (3), McCartney (3), Roemer (2), Heidi Heffelfinger (1) and Miller (1). As part of a sterling defensive team effort Ava Donleavy made 10 saves, Jewel Roemer blocked 4 shots and Alex Mould made 3 steals.

Coach Misha Buchel was reached for comment. “The whole weekend was a comprehensive team effort. Defensively we were all connected on a string at all times making us almost impossible to break down the entire weekend. And offensively we had different players step up each game. But without doubt the best goal of the weekend was scored by Mary Beth Heffelfinger with her circus left to right toss and shot that brought the whole house down.”

The Lady Dons look to keep their unbeaten streak alive Wednesday against cross-town rival Campolindo. Games start 4pm at Campo so come on out and root on your Lady Dons!

Final Tournament Stats