Boys’ varsity soccer lost to the Dons 1-0 on February 18, putting an abrupt end to their postseason. The team held the 7 seed going into the North Coast Section (NCS) tournament, while Acalanes held the 2 seed. This season was the Cougars’ 10th year in a row of advancing to the NCS quarterfinals.

In the 1st few minutes of the match, Acalanes took a shot on senior goalkeeper Kai Weyland, who kept the ball out of the goal but was trampled by Acalanes’ 2 strikers in the process. “The refs weren’t that bad, but some of the calls were fishy,” Weyland said. He also added that generally, the NCS referees are better than league game referees.

Acalanes scored their 1st goal about 20 minutes into the 1st half. Campolindo never recovered.

Matty Rinquist’s apparent goal was declared invalid because the Cougars were ruled to have been offsides.

“We had plenty of open opportunities to score, just couldn’t put one away. [Acalanes’] goalkeeper made some nice point blank saves,” admitted Adranly.

Assistant coach Jimmy Adranly claimed that the two teams were “very evenly matched skill-wise.”

“[Acalanes] obviously had a huge size advantage. But our boys stepped up to the challenged and matched their physicality,” Adranly added.

“It felt pretty depressing, and we all wanted to win to show the seniors that we were contenders, and it was really upsetting to see the seniors play their last game,” said sophomore defender Vivek Lashkari.

“It kind of felt bitter sweet, and the 4 years were insane. And to lose your last game to Acalanes, your rival, kind of sucks,” said Ringquist.

“Getting knocked out by Acalanes was a tough way to end the season, but the boys should feel good about the season they had. They came together, played hard and continued the positive path the program is on,” said head coach Shane Carney.

“One of our weaknesses all year was wasting our chances and not finishing. But for this very young group to fight back after the slow start to season and make quarterfinals is pretty impressive!” added Adranly.