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On the back of their very successful 2021 National 7’s campaign, the Lady Cavaliers are at it again.
The biggest girls-only rugby tournament on the West Coast will be hosted by the Pleasanton Cavaliers Rugby Club at Robertson Park in Livermore this Saturday (Feb. 19).
Despite two years of COVID-related disruptions and cancellations, the tournament almost didn’t happen until the Cavaliers stepped in at short notice to organize the event.
The NorCal Rugby Kick Off Tournament (KoT) will see approximately 300 high school and middle school girls from rugby clubs across California converge for a full day of competition and camaraderie.
Talent scouts from USA Rugby’s Eagle Eye program will be paying keen attention to the upcoming KoT, as will college recruiters from rugby-playing D-1, D-2 and D-3 colleges such as Dartmouth, Princeton, Bowdoin and others — many of whom are attending in person.
The KoT event at Robertson Park will run from 9 a.m. through 5:30 p.m. This free to spectate event is a great way to experience rugby first hand.
Foothill girls’ soccer
The Falcons finished the final five games of the regular season with three wins and two ties to clinch a North Coast Section playoff berth.
The run started Feb. 1 with a 6-0 win against Livermore. Six different players scored goals for Foothill, with the opening goal in the first minute by Olivia Walinski. Senior defender Makenna Meyers scored one of the other goals on a penalty kick.
Rafaella Sapiz, Natalie Maciel, Kiana Tahmassebi and Sam Lim all got goals as well.
Two days later came Senior Night, and Foothill came away with a 2-0 win against Granada. Walinski and Sapiz got the goals, with goalie Sadie Brown turning in another shutout.
On Feb. 8, Foothill trailed 1-0 to Dougherty Valley but got a goal from Makenna Meyers to draw even. In the final minute Mackenzie Tierney got control off a corner kick and got the ball to Ava Ricker, who put it away for the go ahead goal. Brown was solid in the goal once again.
The last two games of the regular season came against Amador Valley, and both ended in 0-0 draws.
Senior captain Sophia Minnite and Tahmassebi controlled possession/distribution in the middle while seniors Lim, Niki Kincaid and Meyers and sophomore Brianna Dowling held a strong defensive stance.
The standout player was Brown in goal with five amazing saves to get the two shutouts.
Amador girls’ soccer
The Dons momentarily broke their streak of ties by whitewashing California 7-0 on Feb. 8.
Against Cal, senior midfielders Maddie Benson and Natalie O’Sullivan scored two goals each, and freshman striker Maylen Montoya assisted on three.
The rest of the week saw the ties rise again as the Dons tied Foothill twice with both 0-0 finals.
In the first game against Foothill the Dons had 15 shots, but none found the back of the net. Amador did have a goal called back when the assistant referee did not see the ball cross the line.
In the second game of the week, Foothill assumed a defensive posture and was able to throttle the Amador attack.
The key to the three shutouts the Dons racked up was the stellar play of Brooke Walker and Ava Hofstedt. Outside backs Sydney Stimson, Audrey Ku, Kylie Beeby and Devyn Hasty played end-to-end, participating in the attack and dropping back to defend.
The players were a huge reason that only six goals were scored against Amador this season.
Amador boys’ basketball
San Ramon Valley controlled the game from the beginning with a smothering defense that Amador had trouble scoring against, coming away with the 49-27 win.
No Amador player had more than five points.
Foothill girls’ basketball
The Falcons claimed a pair of wins over Dougherty Valley in the final week of the East Bay Athletic League season.
On Senior Night on Feb. 5, Foothill hung on for a 41-39 win. Shristi Rath had 11 points and Savannah Montini 10 for the Falcons. Foothill seniors Taylor Twamugabo and Vicky Thorbjornsen made key plays in the last 10 seconds to secure the win.
Two days later, Foothill got 21 points from Riley Young and nine from Grace Caraballo on the way to a 48-39 win.
Editor’s note: Dennis Miller is a contributing sports writer for the Pleasanton Weekly. To contact him about his Pleasanton Preps column, email acesmag@aol.com.
