 | | | Shaune Lundstrom, Miramonte (at last season) | | | | | | It's said that when there is a rivalry game in any sport, you can throw out the records. Last Friday night, Miramonte and Acalanes girls lacrosse came into their final league game with 7-0 records in league play. Throw in senior night (five for each team) and there was great anticipation coming into the game.
The term competitive does not do justice in describing the level of play in the game. It was more like a heavyweight fight (without the punches) that went the distance with Miramonte's Shaune Lundstrom scoring the last of her five goals with 18 seconds left to defeat Acalanes by a score of 15-14.
Both teams came in with winning streaks and a lot of confidence. The coaches felt it was important for their teams to keep their focus. Acalanes head coach Mary Doyle wanted her team to "keep our composure and take each play at a time and not get flustered or frustrated. If we play our system, we'll be fine."
It's said that familiarity breeds contempt. In this game, familiarity only bred respect. Miramonte head coach Jackie Pelletier appreciated the relationships the players and coaches have off the field as only making the game more special: "I played against Mary when she was at Cal-Davis and I was at California and I'm really close with her. All of our kids have played with the Acalanes kids growing up and most of them know each other's styles."
Miramonte has had a number of games where they started slowly and this game was no exception. Acalanes clearly won the first half, leading by a score of 9-5. The Matadors knew coming into the game that they had to contain Lauren Westergren. However, knowing doesn't always make it so. Westergren scored the first three goals of the game and scored eight goals in total.
Miramonte has been a strong second half team all season and this game was no exception though Acalanes stood toe to toe with them and did not back down. In the last 15 minutes of the game, there were four ties and four lead changes. Miramonte was led by Lundstrom (5 goals), Boo Dewitt (4 goals) and Emerson Bohlig (3 goals). Freshman Sally Peterson scored two goals and Pelletier called it "a breakout game for Sally and I expect her to keep going up."
Lundstrom said that the team had been pointing to this game for a while: "There was all this pent-up energy because we knew that our teams were evenly matched. It was amazing to come out on top and have all of our hard work pay off. I'm sure we're going to see them again in the playoffs but it sure feels good right now."
Still, Doyle spoke for all in keeping the perspective of the game: "There is a little bit of bragging rights as the girls know each other really well from club teams, but at the at the end of the game, off the field, we're all good sports and root for each player individually because that's the lacrosse community in general." |
Lamorinda Weekly, Moraga CA