Young Haybaler squad can’t keep up with Santa Catalina in home
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The San Benito High girls’ water polo is an inexperienced group. Only three members of the 2005 team were on the roster last season, meaning that 66 percent of coach Derek Kisling’s team has never played varsity water polo before.
The squad’s level of collective experience showed in Wednesday’s 5-18 loss to the Santa Catalina Cougars at the SBHS pool as the ‘Balers were plagued by off-target passes, missed opportunities when the Cougars were a man down, and poor shot selection.
“We’re a young team and we made young mistakes today,” Kisling said. “But the great thing about it is, young mistakes go away. We’re just going to keep practicing and we’ll get better.”
Wednesday’s action started with a quick shot by Santa Catalina’s Devan Kennifer, a shot which ‘Baler keeper Krista Maisonneuve easily turned away. But the Cougars’ early attack was relentless and seconds later, Elle Cahalan scored to put Santa Catalina up 1-0.
Maisonneuve managed to keep the Cougars’ next couple of shots out of the net and then, with just under four minutes to play in the first quarter, Hollister’s Katie Buzzetta found Kirsten Palm with a nice pass right in front of the Cougars’ goal. Palm put the shot past the Santa Catalina keeper to even things up at 1-1.
The two teams went back and forth for the rest of the first quarter, each playing good defense, until the Cougars got a score with about half a minute left to break the tie.
The second quarter wasn’t nearly as close. When the Haybalers began to make their mistakes, Santa Catalina did a good job of making the most of the opportunities those mistakes presented. And, by the end of the second quarter, the Cougars had outscored the ‘Balers 7-0 to take a 9-1 advantage.
“The varsity game is just a different animal.” Kisling said. “We definitely need to work on passing under pressure and we’re not all on the same page on defense. And honestly, that’s just a product of how much time we’ve had to prepare prior to our first game.”
The JV girls defeated Santa Catalina 11-6 while the JV boys were on the road against Palma, whom they beat 8-5. Bob Glashan scored four goals in the win while Adam Riyanda added a pair.
SBHS cross country
The Haybalers had quite a showing at the Toro Park Jamboree in Salinas on Wednesday as Rigo Vasquez took first place in the event ahead of Gilroy’s Arnulfo Velasquez. Hollister’s Amanda Boyd finished off the one-two with another ‘Baler first place, defeating Live Oak’s Cobbie Jones with a time of 18:47 on the three-mile course.
SBHS girls’ tennis
The San Benito High Girls’ tennis team beat up on Alvarez 7-0 on Wednesday. Danielle Burke took her match 6-0, 6-0 while teammate Amanda Marshall also won 6-0, 6-0. Jamie Houston won 6-1, 6-2. The toughest singles match of the day saw Hollister’s Kaitlyn O’Keefe win 6-2, 4-6, 6-3.
