AV Girls LAX - Varsity

The lacrosse season started in rain-soaked weather. It was probably fitting that it would end in the same way. It was not an easy road to get to the championship game. A number of players pushed through fatigue and played whole games without rest. Amador had shown an incredible amount of grit and heart to get past a very tough Granite Bay squad, despite the absence of multiple key players. The girls were pumped up the moment they walked into their bus. It was beautifully decorated by a number of the moms. As the coach circled together her troops, there was nothing but excitement. The Dons took to the field one last time this season to attempt a win against San Ramon Valley.
Off the draw Amador would circle the offense. Catherine Murphy got to the line on a foul. Her shot clanked off the pipe but was recovered by Bella Mayo. Mayo took a rough check to get herself to the line. San Ramon was awarded a yellow for the dangerous contact. The Wolves goalie had a nice save. Her outlet pass dropped to the ground and was kicked out. Lily Manos drove the turnover into the 8 meter and was immediately fouled. Her penalty shot would give the Dons the first goal. The Wolves took the draw straight to goal but an aggressive triple team temporarily beat them back. The neck drive to goal would even the match. The Wolves attacked the net once more, but were denied by Blake Guidice. The Wolves came right back at the goalie and rifled the shot high. Amador gets the ball and goes down the field. Murphy was able to release another shot on goal, that went wide. Amador started to run some settled offense. Eventually Mayo drove from the high left corner and went past 3 defenders to score. The Wolves immediately answered by taking the draw in and executing their offense. A clean pass deep into the center was sent quickly into the net, 2-2. In the next offensive set Mayo drove from baseline and received a check to the head. This would be SRV’s second yellow. Mayo’s penalty shot scores, 3-2. From the get-go San Ramon was intent on playing very physical lacrosse. Their style of play works for them and can be contrasted by the Amador’s finesse. The Amador defense was doing everything it could to stem the tide. Both teams were exchanging goals at a furious pace. The Dons would draw their own yellow card for dangerous contact. The penalty would score giving the Wolves a 4-5 advantage. The Dons were taking shots on goal through the first half but many were flying wide or being deflected by excellent goalie play. The defense was sliding but San Ramon diced up the field with multiple cutters. Even when the defense forced the ball loose a penalty flag seemed to immediately be waving in the air. The Wolves were hitting their shots from the charity line. Amador finally got a great stop and turnover. Erica Haley aided the transition. Sophia Shiblaq from the right elbow hit a cutting Mayo, from the left baseline. Mayo received the rock and immediately dove and fired for goal. Despite falling to the ground her scoring shot would keep the match close. Amador would get a defensive stop but squander the transition by getting trapped on the sideline. SRV went straight to goal, easily slipping by defenders to make it 5-7. Amador went into the half battling hard and were only down two goals. The feeling was if they could keep the quality of play up and catch a few breaks, anything could happen. The rain was even slowing down.
SRV went to work out of the half and put up two quick goals. Amador finally earned a draw and were able to cycle their offense. Kalena Johnson received the ball in the high right corner and began weaving into the center. Her high right shot would sail into the net keeping the score reasonable at 7-10. The Wolves executed their infamous pop-pass from X to a streaking cutter multiple times in the second half. Their SRV senior captain’s lacrosse IQ was on display as she was able to get multiple assists. Amador stifled these plays well in the first half. Amador surrendered more of them in the second to give the wolves a, 7-11 advantage. The Wolves were on attack again when the play was called dead. The illegal stick penalty was quickly evident as their cutter couldn’t get rid of the ball on a pass. The pocket extended down deep and trapped the ball. The SRV player was penalized for an illegal stick and Amador was awarded the ball. Marley diligent would get a push and be sent to the line. Instead of shooting she would pass into a cutting Mayo who would fire in for goal, 8-12. From this point on San Ramon executed a beautiful run of goals against Amador. The defense did their best to put up a fight. Timeout was eventually called with 3 minutes left in the match. Coach Randel circled her team and encouraged them to stay positive. She gave them an incredible pep talk and focused on their journey to get to the championship match. She asked them to not shed one tear because they should be proud of what they have accomplished. Immediately after the timeout the coaching staff rallied the Amador fans to cheer on their team one last time. It was a beautiful moment as the girls broke from the huddle smiling proud, and their friends and family were standing and cheering. This is what builds a champion. Not numbers on a scoreboard, but the strength in your heart.
Amador had an incredible 19-4 record for the 2019 season. They battled through injuries and the loss of several players throughout the season. Even with the odds against them they reached the championship match and challenged a very good San Ramon Valley squad. The 2020 lacrosse season will have continued potential for all the returning players. Good luck to the seniors one last time! Thank you for your contributions to the team and good luck with your future endeavors.

by Jake Bayani

Just in case you missed it all photos taken by Jake are at this link. It will be up for another month. Please try and download whatever you like ASAP. And you can download the whole folder at once. I also added Steve Nimmo’s video inside my dropbox link as well.

https://www.dropbox.com/sh/26l6ptsxdmd80xs/AACxz2leHBGhIsuNd_5P_NMLa?dl=0