The CAL girls’ varsity soccer team defeated KCD and Ballard last Monday and Tuesday, respectively, to capture their fourth consecutive District 28 championship! Kenzi Dannelly, Faith Shepherd and Megan Mintman were named to the District 28 All-Tournament team. Congratulations to the team, the coaches, and to the girls who made the All-Tournament team!

CAL dominated possession time and field position the entire district semi-final versus KCD and the final 9-0 score was proof of both. Kenzi Dannelly led off the goal-a-thon with a sharp strike into net off a Dana Joss assist just 4 minutes into the game. Megan Mintman hit a left-footed goal less than a minute later for a 2-0 lead. Megan scored her second goal at 29:02 after receiving a nice assist pass from Kenzi. Erin Scheiter played a perfect corner kick in front of goal where a patiently waiting Faith Shepherd crushed the ball into net, and Dana Joss scored with just 0:47 left in the first half for a CAL 5-0 lead. In the second half, Lindsey Dunn made a nifty dribble move and crossed the ball to Haleigh Fortuna who rattled it home. 6-0 CAL. Haleigh lofted a high arcing corner to Faith Shepherd who rose above the crowd to hammer a header home for her second goal. CAL 7-0. Kenzi netted her second goal of the evening off a Megan Mintman assist at 24:26 in the second half. CAL 8-0. Perhaps the craziest and most exciting goal of the night was tallied by Emily Meade (her first of the season). With just 9:00 to play, the ball bounced high off the ground in front of KCD’s goal. Dana hit a header that went straight up in the air. A streaking Emily Meade running all the way in from her left back position thundered a header from 15 yards out with such force the goalie never had a chance! The final score was CAL 9 KCD 0. It was the defense’s 8th shutout of the season. Special credit goes to Corinne Warlick who stepped into goal this night in replacement of injured Molly Andres, and recorded the shutout.

Tuesday night’s District 28 championship game was much more difficult. Ballard, after losing twice this season already to CAL, displayed gritty resolve not to go down a third time. Our girls fought hard but could not break through Ballard’s defense for almost thirty minutes. Then, at 10:20, Faith Shepherd collected the ball about 30 yards out, made a nice touch to her left foot, and blasted a smoking hot shot into the upper right V of the goal to make it CAL 1-0! Playing without injured senior stalwart defender Sophie Schulz, CAL’s defense rose to the challenge. Faith stepped into the back line from her normal mid-field position and Emily Meade performed admirably coming off the bench. Annie Beanblossom, Corinne Warlick and Laura English played strong as well. Despite great defensive play, Ballard managed to sneak a goal in mid-way through the second half to level the game at 1-1. But, the CAL girls went masterfully to the attack, wanting no part of overtime or PK’s. Forwards Haleigh Fortuna, Lindsey Dunn, Dana Joss, Cassidy Bennett and Olivia Ashby, along with mid-fielders Megan Mintman, Erin Scheiter and Sara Quinton put incredible pressure on Ballard’s defense for the next 15 minutes. Finally, with 4:34 left in the game, Dana crossed the ball into the box from the right side to Megan who marvelously headed the ball to an open Lindsey Dunn on her left. Lindsey crushed the ball into net for the winning goal! CAL 2 Ballard 1 was the final.

The CAL girls’ team will play at home on Monday, October 21 in the quarterfinals of the Region 7 tournament. Come out and support this aggressive and exciting team!