SANTA ANA - After establishing a 4-1 lead in the first quarter, the Dons continued to roll in their 11-6 win over Saddleback College. The win came in the final Orange Empire Conference match of the season as the Dons looked to position themselves in the upcoming conference championships.
Nicholas Todd opened scoring for the Dons just 18 seconds into the game before Saddleback (3-17, 0-4) evened the match half way through the quarter on a goal by Jonathan Phan.
But that would be the only goal for the Gauchos in the frame while the Dons got a goal from Nick Beavers before a pair of goals by Duncan Wilson to take a 4-1 lead after one quarter.
Saddleback scored first in the second to cut the Dons lead to 4-2 before back-to-back goals by Micah Mathis put SAC up 6-2. The final goal of the half belonged to the Gauchos and Scott Burbach to make the halftime score 6-3 in favor of the home team.
The Dons pulled away in the third quarter after the two teams traded goals in the first five minutes. It wasn't until the final minutes of the quarter that the Dons made their run, getting three goals in the final 3:20.Todd added a pair of goals with Beavers and Alec Padilla scoring the other two as the Dons took a 10-5 lead into the final frame.
Padilla added his second goal of the game for the Dons final score of the game while it was Michael Hession who notched the Gauchos goal in the fourth quarter to make the final score 11-6.
Wes Kobel turned away 18 shots for the Dons as he played the entire match in goal. His counterpart, Parker Crutchfield, tallied two saves for the Gauchos.