The Amador Valley High School girls varsity lacrosse “dream team” made school history last week, finishing with an undefeated EBAL record and the NCS crown. They finished their 12-0 season of perfection with a 15-6 win against Cal High May 6, followed by a 16-5 win against Foothill High School the following evening.
This gave Amador the No. 1 seed out of a field of 12 teams for the NCS Championship series. On the way to the title game, the Lady Dons defeated No. 9 seed Berkeley High in the quarterfinals and No. 4 seed Cal High in the semifinals. Last Saturday afternoon, May 17, Amador defeated No. 6 seed Monte Vista, 19-7, in the NCS Championship game at Dublin High School.
“It truly has been an amazing season,” said Karen Church, who began her tenure as Amador’s head coach four years ago.
She brought with her the skills she learned as a Division 1 player at the University of Maryland.
“I set out to coach lacrosse as I know it should be played,” she said. “With the midfield transitions, the ball is moving 50 miles an hour in the attacking zone; attackers catch the ball on a full sprint and finish with powerful shots on goal.”
Church’s overall Amador record includes two EBAL championship titles in 2005 and 2008, NCS semi-finalist in 2005, NCS second place finish in 2006 and 2007, and NCS first-place finish in 2008.
“It is exhilarating to watch this team play the game I love so much,” she added. “Being undefeated in EBAL and wining NCS was just icing on the cake.”
One of the highlights of the season was a spring break trip to San Diego, where the Lady Dons played the No. 1 team in the state, La Costa Canyon. They were the only team this season to tie La Costa Canyon at the end of regulation time. Amador lost in overtime, 12-9, but two nights later, they defeated the No. 10 team, Poway, 11-7.
This year, Amador outscored their opponents 360-139. With last Saturday’s victory, the Lady Dons claimed the first NCS girls lacrosse title for Amador and is ranked No. 1 in Northern California, No. 2 in the Western U.S. (seven states) and No. 89 in the nation (over 2,000 teams are listed).
Leading scorers included Amanda Nespor, Kara Bjesse, Melissa Sheehan, Kerry McCulloch, Erin McGillivray, Kristyn Hayashi and Teresa Li. This formidable team also included the talents of Helen Cai, Britany Carrolan, Jessica Daut, Morgan Dorsey, Colee Evangelista, Caroline Federighi, Angelina Hlavaty, Amelia Major, Ana Martinez, Sarah Moellering, Brittany Schoen, Lauren Sutter, Ali Zachariades, and two JV players brought up for the NCS game–Niki Gotelli and Nicole Triplett.
–Amy Mollering
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