A perennial stalwart in its league, Acalanes girls lacrosse is set up for a run at a section title LEFT: Acalanes’ Niki Quinn tries to move around Dougherty Valley’s Lauren Jarvis during their game on May 3. ABOVE: The Dons’ senior middle, Elizabeth Landry (left), makes a pass as she avoids a pack of Dougherty Valley defenders. Landry will play at UC Davis next year. Photos by Bob Larson
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By clay kallam | Contributor
elly Jasso, in her fifth year as coach, is of course happy to be winning games and having her program recognized as one of the best around, but that’s not why she coaches. “It’s about finding strong female role models for our young women,” she said. “I’m a huge advocate for my girls. “The kids work so hard — so much is asked of them academically, too.” Jasso asks a lot of herself, especially now that she has 1-year-old twins Everly and Whit to go along with her full-time job at Pepsico. This year, though, is a little easier than last, because Jasso delivered those twins in the middle of the season. After handling Dougherty Valley 15-3 last spring — a typically one-sided win for Acalanes in the DFAL — Jasso thought everything was fine. “I went to my weekly doctor’s appointment the next day, and they said ‘Next week’,” she said. “But then my platelet count was low and they said ‘Right now’.” So Jasso had a C-section that afternoon, delivered her twins, and two weeks later she was back on the sidelines when the Dons knocked off Campolindo. Obviously, Jasso has a commitment to her team and a drive to compete,
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both of which were nurtured in her high school and college lacrosse career in New York. (Lacrosse, despite its growing popularity here, is still dominated by Northeastern teams.) She moved to San Diego and started coaching the junior varsity at Coronado High School before relocating to the Bay Area and landing at Acalanes. But Jasso is careful not to take credit for the success story in Lafayette. “It would be foolish to say it’s me,” she said. “The (lacrosse) clubs are creating the environment — and my program is great because I had a couple years when I had a strong freshman class.” In fact, three of the nine seniors on this year’s team played on varsity as freshmen, and their experience has been a key factor in the team’s success. But part of being successful as a lacrosse coach is teaching novices the game. Given the nature of American sports, kids start to zero in on one or two sports early on, and don’t always try new things. “They have to specialize at such a young age,” said Jasso, and though some choose lacrosse, many who play the sport in high school don’t have much experience with it. “If you get a good athlete,” said Jasso, “you can build a player” — in part because they don’t have bad habits to break. May 12, 2011
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