On a beautiful Friday night Acalanes took on Las Lomas on their home field donning colorful socks for the Matt Lynn Memorial Game. The Knights came out hot and scored 2 quick goals against the Dons. But after settling in after the first few minutes, the Don’s offense gained steam with Griffin Rotundo scoring the first goal of the game. And then on a quick recovery, the boys lined up quick passes from Marshall Anderson to Brody Darin to Jan Korzeniowski who found the back of the net. Dons trailed by 1 at the quarter.
In the second quarter the Knights got off the first goal. But with tough defense from Grant Condy, Henry Finegold and Sam Bishop, the Dons held off the scoring and gave the offense some good possession time. In the last minute of the half, the Dons fired back with a assist from Marshall Anderson to Caleb Mason scoring a sweet shot, Then just 30 seconds later after a great clear, defensive pole Collin Malmquist ran the ball all the way down field to pass it off to Jan Korzeniowski for a perfect goal with just 20 second left of the half. Somehow though, the Knights managed to get one last goal in at the horn to end the half with the Dons trailing 5-4.
The players returned to the field after halftime and lined up to honor former Dons lacrosse player and coach Matt Lynn who died of brain cancer in 2009. Hearing words of Matt’s character, integrity and courage served as important reminders to the players what the game is all about. Matt’s family cheered from the stands and the team honored them with a bouquet of flowers.
Third quarter the Knights started off hot again with 2 quick goals and stretched their lead 7-4. But the Dons were not deterred by this 3 goal deficit and came fighting back fast to score 3 goals in quick succession: a goal from Jan Korzeniowski followed by goal from Simon Appel and finally Brody Darin. And just like that, the Dons tied the game with cowbells ringing loud from the stands! With one final goal from the Knights the Dons trailed 7-8 at the end of the third
Fourth quarter, the excitement continued with very evenly matched play and teams trading off goals. The Knights scored the first of the quarter but then Griffin Rotundo fired one about 30 yards out that found the back of the net. The Knights scored again but the Dons answered back quickly with Jan scoring his fourth of the night, again trailing by 1. The Knights scored the next but a few minutes later Brody Darin dodged a defender to slide in a great goal. But the Knights took possession at the last minute and time ran out with the final score 12-10 Las Lomas.
