SHP can’t stop Acalanes in state title game

Against the Dons, however, the Gators were 0-3.

SHP got one more crack at the national power from Lafayette as the two squared off in the CIF Northern California Division I championship match.

And as it has three other times this season, top-seeded Acalanes dealt No. 2 SHP its fourth loss in a row to the Dons, who dominated in a 10-2 win over the Gators at Independence High School on Saturday afternoon to complete a second straight undefeated, 27-0 season.

“We tried. We put up shots,” SHP head coach Jamie Frank said. “Trying to close the gap against a great team is hard.”

Despite taking it to Acalanes (27-0) in the opening period, getting off six shots, SHP (26-4) was forced to play catch-up for nearly the entire match. The Dons scored midway through the first quarter and led 2-0 going into the second.

It was in the middle two periods that the game got away from the Gators as Acalanes outscored SHP 7-2 in the second and third quarters. After peppering Dons goaltender Ava Donleavy in the first seven minutes, the Acalanes defense did a better job of not even letting shots get on frame in the second period.

The Gators had an opportunity to grab some momentum — and confidence — early in the second period when they went on the power play 20 seconds into the quarter, but Annabel Facey’s shot banged off the crossbar. The Gators grabbed the rebound, but turned it over to end the threat.

After that, the opportunities were few and far between.

Donleavy’s dominance started creeping into the minds of the Gators, who were reluctant to shoot unless a strong opportunity presented itself. SHP managed only four shots in the second period, three of which were on frame.

“It’s not quantity of shots. It’s about being confident,” Frank said.

Acalanes, meanwhile, methodically started pulling away. Leading 2-0 after one quarter, the Dons scored the first two goals of the second period for a 4-0 lead. They took advantage of a SHP turnover near midpool for their third goal and scored their fourth on a quick counterattack, triggered by Donleavy.

SHP finally got on the scoreboard with a little over a minute left in the second period when Margot Gibbons and Alexandra Szczerba worked an inside-outside play. Gibbons had the ball in the set before sending a pass to Szczerba on the perimeter. Szczerba took one step in before firing a shot to short side right corner.

It was a short-lived momentum shift, however, as the Dons scored two more goals in the final minute, including a Brooke Westphal lofted shot from the left point that found the far upper right corner as the horn sounded to give Acalanes a 6-1 lead at halftime.

The Gators rediscovered their aggressiveness in the third period as they put eight shots on the Acalanes goal, but still struggled to get one past Donleavy.

The Dons, meanwhile, scored the first three goals of the third period for a 9-1 lead before Szczerba netted her second goal of the game from the right point off an assist from Bella Bachler.

Acalanes’ Jewel Roemer, who is in the national team player pool, punctuated the match with the Dons’ 10th goal before they spent the final four minutes running out the clock.

Roemer scored a match-high four goals, but she was hardly a one-woman show for the Dons who used a strong team effort to take down the Gators.

“She’s a great player,” Frank said of Roemer. “She’s a great cog in a really strong machine.”

Despite coming up short of a Nor Cal title, Frank was still more than satisfied with his team’s season. The Gators went 23-0 against some of the toughest competition in Northern California, went undefeated in claiming the West Catholic Athletic League regular season and tournament titles and captured their first ever Central Coast Section Open Division championship.

“Super proud of our team,” Frank said. “All you can do is play yourself into this (Nor Cal championship) game.

“I'm so proud of how this team fought.”