LAMORINDA WEEKLY | Matador Defense Shuts Down Dons


Don's goalkeeper Angela LaScala-Gruenwald Photo Peter Simonsen

Acalanes girls' soccer boasts a large fan base-however; on Friday, January 8th the crowd's support was not enough to bolster the Dons offense. Acalanes took on Miramonte in a rivalry match-up and the Matadors defense, led by senior goalkeeper Shelby Church, shut out the Dons, 2-0. The shutout was Church's first of the season and Acalanes' first home loss on the year. Church made 12 saves.

Visiting Miramonte entered the match with an even 2-2 record in league play, which now improves to 3-2. The Dons came in at 3-1, but dropped to 3-2. Both teams now find themselves in a three-way tie for first place in DFAL with Campolindo.

The match began slowly, with a couple of scoring opportunities for both teams. Then at the 17:32 mark, Matador senior forward and captain, McKenna Deback, found the far side of the net open, beating Dons' senior goalkeeper Angela LaScala-Gruenwald for the easy 1-0 lead. Eleven minutes later at 6:31, Miramonte sophomore forward Katherine Fearing was denied a two-goal lead by LaScala-Gruenwald, who deflected the ball out of the goalie box.

Heading into halftime, Miramonte was up 1-0.

With 27:46 left in the second half, the visiting Mats struck again, this time the goal came off the foot of junior forward MacKenzie Martin.

Acalanes offensive attack had multiple looks, but the Matadors defense prevented the Dons from capitalizing.

"We put in a good effort. We were coming off of a long break, we played well, and these were two good teams," said Acalanes coach Tom Ginocchio.

The Mats, riding a two-game winning streak, returned home to battle Las Lomas on January 13th; the game proved to be a defensive battle ending in a 0-0 tie. That same day Acalanes hit the road for a game at Dougherty Valley, which also resulted in a tie, 1-1. Campolindo beat Alahambra, 2-1, for the lead in the DFAL.

January 15th the three-way tie was restored. Acalanes defeated Dublin 2-0, Campolindo tied 0-0 with Las Lomas and Miramonte tied with Alahambra 0-0. All three Lamorinda teams are now 3-2-2.