AV Girls LAX - Varsity

Senior night festivities were underway all-day long. Custom morning beverages were brought to the seniors. The team gathered for lunch together. And all the players had special senior night shirts specially made. A lot of good vibes indeed.

It was going to be interesting to see, how the seniors would respond, to their last regular season home game. Amador came away with the opening draw but would be immediately deflected and sent away. Campolindo would pass toward the crease and drive for goal. A costly draw penalty, against the Cougars, would award Bella Mayo with the ball. Mayo would drive hard to goal and quickly tie the match. Campolindo would respond with an immediate drive to goal of their own. Risa Gough returned to the goalie box for Amador. She would quickly earn two back to back saves and send the Dons charging. The Dons would draw an illegal check and yellow card against the Cougars. The advantage would give Lily Manos a chance to drive and score. Kaitlyn Sweeney would knock down a pass to create a turnover. Then Lily Manos would once again drive to goal, 3-2. Campolindo would call time-out to regroup. Marley Diligent would create a check, for turnover, at the draw. Anna Ford would drive past X and crease roll. Ford then weaved back in forth to dodge defenders and sent a quick shot through, an opening, for goal. Campolindo would take possession for a draw violation. The Cougars would take the opportunity to rail off three back to back aggressive goals. On the last goal of three, Campolindo would drive hard to goal. Amador’s Alexis Bayani would meet the defender and be immediately rolled back and taken to the ground by the driving Cougar midfielder. The midfielder would snap off a goal and a no call by the officials would stand. Bayani would exit the game for concussion surveillance. Catherine Murphy would enter the draw circle for Amador. Bella Mayo would take the draw win and drive. She would earn a penalty line goal, from a push violation. Another draw violation would give Amador possession again. Kalena Johnson would drive and pivot on a dime, to lose her defender, then take a well-placed shot to give the Dons the lead again. Campolindo would answer with a converted shooting space violation. Amador was cycling their offense and setting plays. Multiple shots went wide. FInally, Bella Mayo would finally earn a shooting space violation for goal. Good patience paid off. The defense stood firm as the Cougars attempted to probe. Grace French lead the transition and passed back to a driving Bella Mayo. Mayo would be placed on the line for shooting space and convert. Amador would win another draw. Mady Sweeney was driving and looking for cutters but lost control of the ball. Kylie Racer would grab the loose ball and immediately drive forward and score. Just when we thought there was some breathing room at 9-6 Campolindo would again mount a come back to tie up the game. Marley Diligent would win a draw and immediately pass off to Mady Sweeney who would earn a goal. Amador would lose possession off a green card violation second to having mouth guards half way out of the player’s mouth. The Cougars would immediately capitalize and drive for goal. After Campolindo earned the draw Grace French and Anna Ford combined to force a turnover. Amador would be immediately checked out. Bella Mayo in a very athletic move would reach, to knock down the Campolindo pass, for another turnover. Amador would take a strike at goal, but an incredible goalie save would send the Cougars the other way for goal. Out of the draw Anna Ford would use her screens, and back and forth jukes to create another goal for Amador. Amador threatened to strike in the closing seconds of the half but a charge call was signaled. Defense made a strong stand to deny any last minute heroics by the Cougars. It was 11 all in a tightly contested shoot out.

Out of the half Bella Mayo again drove and swerved for a quick goal. Risa Gough would save another Cougar strike. Marley Diligent would swoop up the ground ball and pass of to Grace French. French would find Kalena Johnson and the shot would be just wide. Both teams would battle back and forth a few rounds. The scoring would exchange in some tightly contested shots by both sides. Despite the high scoring game the defense for Amador was having some brilliant moments. Bella Mayo would find an opportunity off an isolation play to tie the match at 14 all. In another incredible no call event, the Cougar attack would hit Grace French in the head during the follow through of a goal shot. Campolindo would call a timeout after winning the draw. This was a huge chance to break the Dons. Again the defense held strong, and fierce ball pressure created a turnover. The transition went clean and Amador would tie again with under 5 minutes of play. Campolindo would respond and have the Dons out of position on the penalty shot. The shooter would pass into the low post for a swift conversion to give the Cougars the lead again. Out of the Draw Kalena Johnson would find Mackenzie Riddle. Riddle was able to maneuver from the low post to high center of the 8 and earn a shooting space. Her goal would create mayhem in the stands as the game was tied again with under two minutes of play. All of a sudden, the Cougars couldn’t win a draw when it counted the most. Bella Mayo would again be on the penalty line. She would drive and appear to turn around, before attacking again, for the go-ahead goal, with 50 seconds left on the clock. The Dons would win the draw and create desperation from the Cougars, who immediately began to double team whoever had the ball. Amador maneuvered and passed off at a high level. Team Co-Captain Anna Ford held the ball in the closing seconds. Bella Mayo would drive and call for ball. A perfect pass to Mayo’s open left shoulder would be caught and fired for an emphatic closing goal. The final score would be 18-16, the largest combined goal total in the last two years of play. The team held off a furious Campolindo attack tonight. I do want to credit the incredible play off all three seniors in tonight’s game. Kayleigh Young had stout defense and multiple transition drives where she evaded the defense and made clean passes. Co-Captain Mackenzie Riddle with an incredible game tying goal in the closing minutes. Anna Ford with a couple goals and incredible energy to rally her team. The Senior night shootout couldn’t have ended any better!