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Sports

Girls Lax: Amador Advances to Second Round of Playoffs

No. 15 Las Lomas no match for second-seeded Dons

If the seniors on the Amador Valley girls lacrosse are starting to feel a touch of senioritis, they didn't show it Wednesday night in the first round of the North Coast Section playoffs.  Seniors Erin McGillivray, Amelia Major, Morgan Dorsey and Helen Cai all had goals as the Dons dominated Las Lomas, 15-5, which coincidentally is Amador's record for the season.

The No. 15-seeded Knights (8-13) were the first to strike when Anne Neuweiler whipped a pass to Andrea Miralles in front of the net and Miralles proceeded to find the back of it.  That glory proved fleeting for the Knights, who were outscored 13-1 over the next 35 minutes.

"We meant to try to be very composed, and I think we did that," Amador Valley coach Beth Braun said.  "We did it better in the second half of the game, but composure was a really big part of our goal tonight."

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Amador Valley senior Morgan Dorsey got the ball rolling for the Dons, scoring on a pass from Rebecca Giessler at with 19 minutes, six seconds left in the first half to tie the score, 1-1.  The goal sparked a 6-0 run in which five different Dons scored goals.

"(Dorsey's goal) kind of got us off the dime," Braun said. 

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After McGillivray's first goal of the day, Dorsey added another goal at 14:23 to keep the Dons in control.  Just 21 seconds later, Giessler took matters into her own hands with a goal to make it 4-1 Amador.  Giessler finished the evening with three goals.

Senior midfielder Helen Cai scored with 12:48 left in the first, then again at 8:27, driving between two Knights and unleashing a wicked shot.  Her momentum sent her tumbling, unable to watch the ball sail past the Las Lomas netminder.  When the dust settled, Amador led 8-2 at the half.

The first goal of the second half belonged to Major, who also had three assists.  After collecting the ball on the Amador side of the field, senior goalie and team captain Caroline Federighi went way out of the net to set off a beautiful string of passes that ended with Major burying one at the other end. 

The Dons led by as much as 11 before putting in some of their younger talent near the end of the game.  While this meant a few goals snuck past Federighi as the clock wound down, it also meant that fans were treated to a glimpse of the future.  At 20:13, freshman Corrine Logan caught a McGillivray pass and put it in the net.  Fellow freshman Justine Chinn, playing in her first varsity game, later wowed the crowd with a scintillating spinning goal.

Topping it all off was McGillivray, whose third goal completed her hat trick with just three seconds left.

"Good way to end my senior year (at home)," said McGillivray, who also had five assists.  "Everyone scored, it wasn't just one person.  It was distributed evenly throughout, so that made it fun for me.  Everyone felt like their own star."

Amador will play at Acalanes in the NCS quarterfinals on Friday at 7 p.m. If the Dons win, and Carondelet beats Redwood on Friday, Amador will be back at home for the semifinals on May 26.

Box score:

Amador Valley 15, Las Lomas 5

Las Lomas (8-13) 2 3 — 5
Amador Valley
(15-5) 8 7 — 15

Scoring: Las Lomas — Hedgecock, Knox, Miralles, Neuweiler, Souder.  Amador Valley — Giessler 3, McGillivray 3, Dorsey 2, Cai 2, Chinn, Daut, Desin, Logan, Major.

Saves: Holzheimer (LL) 13, Federighi (AV) 9.

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