The Highlanders had a successful weekend at the Battle of the Bay Tournament at Encinal over the weekend of September 30-October 1.
Piedmont dropped the opening match to Marin Academy, then defeated Moreau Catholic and El Cerrito. That was good enough to take fifth place.
Piedmont beat El Cerrito 11-5 on the afternoon of October 1. Annika Nilsson opened the scoring, taking a pass from Rosie Feldman on a fast break and scoring with five minutes, 34 seconds to go in the first quarter. Nora Thompson tied the score for the Gauchos with 3:14 left. Odessa Dando scored with the Highlanders a girl up with 2:29 remaining. That started a run of eight of nine goals for Piedmont.
Annika Nilsson (8) 
Odessa Dando (7)
Kat Melian made it 3-1 on a free shot with 4:25 to go in the first half. Thompson again scored for El Cerrito to make it 3-2. Consecutive goals by Melian in the final 34 seconds of the half made it 5-2 at the break.
Feldman took over the game in the third quarter, scoring four goals to make it 9-2. Tess Roorda scored three goals for the Gauchos in the final period. Melian and Kate Meyjes scored goals for the Highalnders.
Rosie Feldman (10) 
Kat Melian (18)
Earlier on October 1, Piedmont won 8-7 over Moreau Catholic. Melian scored the game-winning goal with 4:10 remaining, and the Highlander defense held on for the win. Piedmont goalkeeper Friedie Schickedanz came up with three big saves in the latter minutes, including one in the final seconds.
The Highlanders never trailed in the game, but they also never shook off the Mariners. Feldman opened the scoring with a goal with 4:51 to go in the first. Wailea Lee tied the score at 4:31. Melian put Piedmont ahead at 4:04 and Feldman added a goal at 3:23. Nicole Koltyar answered for Moreau Catholic just 19 seconds later. Feldman’s goal with 1:56 remaining gave the Highlanders a 4-2 lead after one.
The second quarter was scoreless, but the third was just like the first. Madison Mathewson and Nola Kurtz scored consecutive goals for the Mariners to tie the score, 4-4. Feldman again gave Piedmont the lead with 4:14 to go in the first half.
Melian extended the lead to 6-4 with 1:35 left. Moreau Catholic got one back, but Melian scored again with 58 seconds left, and it was 7-5 at the end of three.
Macie Gard (4) 
Kate Meyjes (15)
Kurtz scored a pair of goals to tie it at 7-7, the second coming with 4:37 to go. Melian then scored her game-winner and finished with four goals.
In the opening game on September 30, the Highlanders fell to a strong Marin Academy-San Rafael team, 14-5. Piedmont had played the Wildcats just 10 days prior, falling 17-1. So there was improvement, even battling to a 3-3 tie after one quarter. But it was not enough.
Gabby Reichly scored nine goals to lead the Wildcats. Georgia Starrett added four. The Highlanders were led by two goals from Melian and one apiece from Feldman, Macie Gard and Julia Montes.
Julia Montes (9) 
Molly Ashton (6)
Piedmont lost at Encinal on September 29 in West Alameda County Conference action, 20-7. Feldman scored six of the Highlanders’ seven goals. Molly Ashton had the other one.