Thursday January 9, the Dons headed north to face Clayton Valley High School on their home turf for the first official league game of the 2024-2025 Women’s Varsity soccer season. The Ugly Eagles came out fighting with an early shot just wide of the goal, followed by a cross caught by keeper Melisa Adatepe. Nicole Nguyen followed with a deflection of a Clayton Valley corner kick. Thanks to our solid Dons’ defense, our offense made a run downfield led by Taylor Mikalis passing to Nguyen with a cross to Lucca Debiasse that went just wide.
Momentum seemed to then switch to numerous Dons attacks. Nguyen followed up with a pass to Mikalis who took a shot just to the right of the net. Alex Salazar took the Dons’ first corner, received by Mikalis who headed the ball wide right of the net. Mikalis then sent a pass to Nguyen on wing, who crossed to Salazar with a close offsides call. Tatum Keely made a free kick cleared by the goalie but picked up by Reese Tierney who took a shot on goal. More offensive action with Debiasse passing to Tierney then to Nguyen, who sent a through ball to Stella Hamilton, narrowly cleared by the keeper. Hamilton headed another ball towards the net, cleared by the keeper. Salazar then took a shot on goal, unfortunately deflected off the crossbar and out of bounds. Salazar kicked a through ball to Nguyen but CV intercepted. Keely sent a cross to Livi Foster on the wing but CV defense disrupted the play.
Never resting, our defenders Edie Berzansky and Tori Hiatt were ready to break up the CV counter attack. Debiasse sent a through ball to Lily Polkinhorn, sadly just out of her reach. Mikalis passed to Hamilton up line, where Hamilton was fouled, leading to another Dons’ free kick taken by Debiasse. To finish out the first half, Hamilton passed to Mikalis who sent the ball back to Tierney for one last shot caught by the CV goalie.
At risk of stating the obvious, the Dons absolutely dominated possession and led in shots on goal in the first half. That isn’t to say that we didn’t need nor greatly appreciate the steadfast defense from Hiatt, Berzansky, Avery DeMent, Keely and Cassidy Smith, which continued unabated in the second half!
Offense continued their attacks starting with a nice through ball from Mikalis to Nguyen, broken up by the CV defense. Salazar pushed toward goal, but CV kicked out for a Dons corner. Nguyen took the corner with an almost goal but missed for a CV goal kick. More defense by Berzansky and Hiatt foiled counter-attacks by Clayton Valley, followed by Tierney heading out a CV cross. Nguyen wasted no time nutmegging an Ugly Eagle to get up the line. Debiasse passed to Nguyen who sent a through ball to Salazar, but it was broken up by the CV keeper. Berzansky followed with a clean pass to Nguyen whose shot was blocked by the goalie but then a rebound shot by Polkinhorn scored the Dons’ first goal of the night!
Aca momentum did not wane! Hiatt made a long pass to Salazar who fought for her shot but sent it just wide right of the goal. Tierney followed with another through ball to Salazar for a shot on goal saved by the CV keeper. In quick succession, the Dons rebounded from a CV attack with Debiasse scoring goal #2 for Acalanes!!! Salazar then sent a through ball to Kate Uffleman but it was cut off by the CV goalie. Dons defenders Smith and DeMent continued breaking up CV plays. Keeper Sara Tarnai made a nice save as the minutes ticked down. Another corner for the Dons taken by Dani Green deflected to DeMent whose shot on goal was blocked by the CV keeper. Hamilton closed out the night with another shot on goal just wide right.
The Dons’ 2 – 0 win was–fun fact–their first away victory against Clayton Valley in at least the past 6 years Coach Alex has been on staff at Acalanes! Congrats to our Dons for a strong start to the season! They will head south on Saturday 1/11 AM to face Cal High.