AV Girls LAX - Varsity

AV Athletic Boosters is so proud of the Class of 2019. We see such a bright future from these amazing young adults. We would like to congratulate the 2019 AV Boosters Scholarship recipients:

Selway Scholarship: Samantha Nimmo
Mattos Memorial Scholarship: David Florio
Mano Family Scholarship: Jenna Brown
Jared Johansen Memorial Scholarship: Andrew Whiteland

Boosters Gold Scholarships:
Laura Whiteland
Kelsey Guidice
Lucas Heverly

Boosters Silver Scholarships:
Justin Fulmer
Jonathan Kost
Mason Shaffer
Sarah Rieble
Daniel Lovelock

Boosters Purple Scholarships:
Patrick Gallagher
Aiden Boyle
Natalie Larsen
Becky Laurence

Best of luck to all 2019 graduates. You will do great things!

Once a Don, Always a Don!

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

I’ve uploaded all the photos that I’ve taken this year to a dropbox folder. You should be able to access the photos through the link below. If you have issues downloading just come talk to me and we can work out another way.

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

Jake

Not sure what happened but I lost my notes for last night’s game. Maybe that’s for the best. It’s really hard to describe what occurred last night with all the emotion that surrounded the game. It wasn’t a perfect game, but it may have been one of the best for the Lady Dons. Out of the gate Amador took advantage of an official’s yellow card for an incident against Granite Bay in their previous match. Amador came out blazing and notched up three goals behind Johnson, Manos and Mayo to make it a quick 4-0 lead. Granite Bay has a very good team and Amador needed to make the most of every opportunity that they had. Amador struggled to maintaini possession and this would give Granite Bay the opportunity to claw back a few goals. The Grizzlies were definitely stunned by the pressure being exerted by Amador on both sides of the field. I’m sure the feeling was that they would roll right through the Dons considering the 14 to 9 victory they had on their home turf. Blake Guidice would go thermonuclear throughout the match and notch 11 saves in the cage. There were two saves in the second half that kept Granite Bay from sealing the victory in their favor. In addition to the saves her outlet passes were on point, giving the team a chance to go on offense. This was a spectacular performance for the senior goalie. Amador would go on a run to close the half at 10-5. Out of the gate Granite Bay began chipping away at the lead. They started capitalizing on fast break opportunities. Despite picking up draw wins the Dons couldn’t convert early opportunities at the net. The tension in the stadium amped up as the Grizzlies closed the gap to a 10-9 margin. Bella Mayo played smart and fast forcing Granite Bay into giving her opportunities at the penalty line. Mayo would give Amador a little breathing room with a free position shot with 14 minutes left in the half. Senior Captain Isa Clark would drive from the top of the 8 meter weaving past 2 defenders to pump fake and then let the rock fly into the net. Despite excellent defense the Grizzlies would regain the momentum with four consecutive goals to capture the lead, for the first time in the match. Amador didn’t buckle and would tie the game up again at the 5 minute mark with an incredible shot. Bella Mayo would drive to goal and be blocked off by three defenders. She would twirl her stick and shoot between her legs to knot up the game at 13-13. The shot was a bit of wizardry on Mayo’s part. Granite Bay’s goalie would execute a clean save of the ball. Her outlet was patient and would finally find their best player. The next release would be a 40 yard pass into the center of the 8 meter. The cutter would immediately turn and fire giving the Grizzlies a one-goal advantage, 14-13. Amador didn’t panic and began going to work with a patient offense. Bella Mayo would be rewarded with a penalty shot at the line. The crowd was on their feet. Her release would sing pass the goalie to tie the match at 1:14 left. The Dons couldn’t celebrate too quickly as there was plenty of time left on the clock. The Dons would win the critical draw and began to execute their offense. Catherine Murphy drove right baseline to center. Multiple defenders crowded her drive. She resisted every fiber in her to shoot as she wove right past the goalie. She rolled back through X and searched for someone to pass to. Her defender shadowed her back to her starting point. Murphy saw her defender slow her pace and made her move. Catherine accelerated past her lone defender. The rest of the Dons had cleared out the circle to reset their offense. Catherine found herself face to face with the goalie and took a clean shot to find the net. Dons take the lead with 40 seconds left!!! Pandemonium broke out in the stands and Amador sideline. Off the draw Catherine Murphy would scoop up the ball and the Dons would attempt to enter a stall. Granite Bay was not going to go down easily. The Grizzlies began to double team and pressure the ball. Amador surrendered the ball on a double team sideline trap. Bella Mayo bailed out her team in the midfield by checking the ball free and recovering the ground ball. Time finally expired and the Dons earned themselves a trip to the NCS Championship game against the San Ramon Valley Wolves. The game was emotionally exhausting for the players, coaches, and fans. Credit to Granite Bay for being fierce competitors throughout the match. Thursday’s NCS Championship match will be held at San Ramon Valley High School at 7pm. Sko Dons!!!

by Jake Bayani

Following a thrilling 15-14 win over #2 seed Granite Bay Tuesday night, the AV Girls Lacrosse team advances to the NCS Championship Game vs. #1 Seed San Ramon Valley.

Put on your Purple and Gold and come support your Dons and what promises to be a another exciting game.

When: Thursday, May 16 starting at 7:00pm
Where: San Ramon Valley

GO DONS!