San Benito wins 11-10 to advance to quarterfinals
Hollister – A day after the San Benito boys water polo team hosted and won a Central Coast Section playoff game for the first time in school history, the girls team provided the encore by doing the same in an 11-10 win over Presentation on Wednesday.
“It’s amazing,” said junior Katie Buzzetta, who led the ‘Balers with four goals. “It’s the first time anyone’s ever done this at this school.”
The win advances No. 8 San Benito to the quarterfinals, where it will play at top-seeded St. Francis on Saturday at a time to be determined. While that figures to be a tough match, the ‘Balers spent Wednesday enjoying this win.
“It means a lot to them,” San Benito coach Lacey Sutton said after her victory toss into the pool. “They’re making history.”
The game got off to a slow start offensively, with the lone goal of the first quarter being punched in by Presentation midway through the period.
The No. 9 Panthers went up 2-0 early in the second before goals by the ‘Balers Kristin Palm and Jarae Tanner tied it at 2-2. San Benito took its first lead of the game with just less than a minute to go in the first half on a Shelli Reed goal.
Presentation tied the game at 4-4 with 31 seconds left, but Jayme Telles put the ‘Balers on top at halftime when she scored with 10 seconds left.
San Benito stretched the lead to 7-4 early in the third quarter on goals by Tanner and Telles, but the Panthers responded with four straight goals to storm to an 8-7 advantage.
The ‘Balers appeared to tie the game late in the third quarter when Stephanie Rodriguez scored on a break, but the goal was disallowed when it was ruled she had possessed the ball when a kick out was called and she should have passed the ball first before being allowed to shoot.
That kept San Benito trailing by one entering the fourth, but it may have riled up the ‘Balers.
“It made them want it more,” Sutton said. “They wanted to prove they didn’t need that goal.”
The fourth quarter started off strong for San Benito. Valerie Nicolason scored a minute into the quarter to tie the game and Reed gave the ‘Balers the lead when she scored with 5:26 left.
Two more goals from Buzzetta gave San Benito an 11-8 lead, which it maintained until Presentation scored with 2:19 left.
The Panthers scored 19 seconds later to make it a one-goal game and had their best chance to tie it up when their offense set up with the ball with about 30 seconds left.
But after a foul was drawn on the ‘Balers, Presentation immediately fired a shot into the goal, which was disallowed and San Benito took over and ran out the clock.
“It was a relief that we just got the ball back there,” Telles said.
The win showed tremendously resiliency for the ‘Balers, who were routed in Saturday’s Tri-County Athletic League title game by Santa Catalina.
“We were all working hard,” said Telles, one of the team’s co-captains. “We definitely learned from that loss.”
