Hollister in the lead with minutes to go in title game but
Salinas takes it away
Hollister – They doubled up on Mt. Pleasant 18-9 in the opener, they trounced Carmel 11-3 in their second game, and by the time they got to the title game against the Salinas Cowboys, the Haybaler boys’ water polo team was feeling pretty good about its chances of emerging victorious in the Monterey Bay Invitational at the San Benito High pool.
Maybe the ‘Balers were feeling a bit too good about their chances.
Hollister found itself on top with a little more than two minutes remaining in the championship game but Salinas stormed back to take the 11-9 victory and the tournament crown for the second-straight year.
“I think we were maybe a little bit cocky going into that third game against Salinas,” said Haybaler head coach Tom Agan on Tuesday. “But overall I’m fairly pleased. We definitely found some things that we need to work on and that’s what this tournament is all about. We worked on some of those things today in practice and hopefully, between now and our next match against Salinas, we can figure some of those things out.”
The Haybalers won’t have to wait too long for a shot at redemption as the Cowboys will be back in town next Thursday to kick off the Tri-County Athletic League regular season.
Over the course of its three games in the Monterey Bay, the ‘Balers were no doubt happy to see so many different players getting involved in the scoring action.
David Smith led all Hollister scorers with 14 goals while teammate Joel Smith had eight in two games.
Cliff Gere came up with five goals, Blane Curtice had two, Rory Bloch netted four and Steve Larson added one as well.
Haybaler goalie Matt Thorpe had an outstanding tournament in the net. Thorpe stopped seven shots in the opener against Mt. Pleasant and then followed it up with five against Carmel and a very impressive 10 saves in the final against Salinas.
“We were close in the final game,” Agan said. “The guys did a good job, we just need to work harder all around.”
