GILROY
–– The San Benito water polo team worked out a 12-8 win over
Monterey at Gilroy High School Wednesday during the first round of
the Tri-County Athletic League tournament.
The Balers will next play Friday at Live Oak against Gilroy, who
defeated Carmel 7-5. Game time is set for 3:30 p.m.
Although the Balers won by four just goals, the team was up 12-1
at one point and was clearly in control of the game
GILROY –– The San Benito water polo team worked out a 12-8 win over Monterey at Gilroy High School Wednesday during the first round of the Tri-County Athletic League tournament.
The Balers will next play Friday at Live Oak against Gilroy, who defeated Carmel 7-5. Game time is set for 3:30 p.m.
Although the Balers won by four just goals, the team was up 12-1 at one point and was clearly in control of the game.
The Toreadors scored six unanswered goals to close the game out, but the game was never close after the first quarter.
“I knew where the clock was, and I knew where we would end up at the end,” said Baler coach Tom Agan. “I wasn’t worried.”
All of the seven JV players who were called up had the chance to play in the game. Alex Marks came in in the fourth quarter for starter Nick Dain and had five saves.
“There should be a JV championship,” Agan said. “What I have tried to do is reward the JV guys by giving them the chance to play varsity polo. We were fortunate to get everyone in and then some.”
Lucas Zepeda, a senior 2-meter, scored the first five goals for the Balers. But San Benito had just a 3-1 lead after the first quarter.
“Sometimes when you’re up, the team can still play with you mentally, and that is what Monterey did,” Agan said. “We had a lot of trouble getting starting, and Monterey played with us for awhile. But they started to run out steam as we figured out their defense.”
The slow start wasn’t due to the lack of chances. Robert Shattuck came up with a steal and had a one-on-one attempt that he shot high.
Sean Russell, who had a couple nice steals in the first period, lobbed a ball that just hovered on the goal line before the goalie was able to gobble it up.
Zepeda found the net seven times in the game. He put the Balers up 5-1 on a rebound from a 4-meter shot shot by Russell with 5:04 left in the second quarter.
“We were having a little trouble getting it to Lucas because they were running the drop,” Agan said. “We figured out where we needed to shoot from and made the adjustments. You got to put the ball in to the 2-meter. Whether or not you shoot depends on what they are playing.”
Zach Bainter, who just had stitches in his lip removed, scored his two goals in the game late in the second quarter. Russell had three tallies in the game.
The Balers built up an 8-1 lead at the half. After the Toreadors tied the score at 1-1 in the first quarter, they couldn’t get another goal until there was 1:04 left in the third quarter. That closed the deficit to ten at 12-2.
