Salinas beat San Benito 18-8 Tuesday
HOLLISTER
Now comes the interesting part.
The San Benito boys water polo team, which finished ahead of Salinas at a recent tournament but had yet to play their league rival this season, fell to the Cowboys 18-8 Tuesday in Tri-County Athletic League action in Hollister.
It was only the second loss of the season for San Benito, which falls to 3-2 overall and 1-1 in the TCAL.
Haybalers head coach Tom Agan believes that although Salinas is the odds-on favorite this year to win league, his team does have a chance to topple the defending TCAL champions.
It will only come with hard work, though, and if Tuesday’s loss was any indication, it won’t come easy either.
“We’re not where we need to be right now to challenge Salinas,” Agan said. “I still honestly believe that we’ve got a shot at Salinas, but we’ve really got to step our game up.
“I think really what it comes down to is we’re gonna find out what this team is made of, and how hard they want to work for it because they’ve got some work to do. They’re not a bad team but they’re obviously not at Salinas’ level.”
The ‘Balers were runner-up to Leland at the Monterey Bay Tournament on Aug. 30. Salinas, which also competed at that tournament, was short-handed, Agan said, and were missing key players.
“You didn’t see Salinas at their full strength at that tournament,” Agan said. “This wasn’t the same team.”
San Benito was fresh off a 19-2 romp at Gilroy last Thursday, but the team struggled to find the back of the net early on against Salinas.
Despite trailing the Cowboys by a manageable 4-3 deficit after one period, San Benito could not keep pace with Salinas in the second, and the Cowboys opened up an 11-4 margin at the half.
The coach said it was mistakes, either missed shots on net or turnovers off poor passes, that led to as many as six extra possessions for the Cowboys in the second quarter alone.
“And that’s huge,” Agan said.
Agan highlighted the passing of Salinas and their “situational awareness,” where they were able to anticipate the play and be in position to take a high-percentage shot on net rather quickly.
Jordan Schafer, Nick Angulo and Eric Nicolaysen each contributed two goals a piece for the ‘Balers, while Ryan Whiteside added a score. In net, keeper Kyle Reuther had eight blocks.
San Benito will have some time off before they return to the pool. They’ll compete at the St. Francis tournament next weekend.
JV Note:
The San Benito junior varsity team made easy work of Salinas in the pool Tuesday, routing the visiting Cowboys by a 21-1 margin.
Josh Schafer led the Haybalers with four goals, while Danny Jarrett (3), Jesse Richards (3), Josh McIntyre (2), Tyler Reuther (2), Tyler Agan (2), Carson Nichols (2), Nathan Thomas (2) and Justin Haggard (1) all provided points for San Benito.
In net, Trevor Agan impressed by keeping the Cowboys to just a single goal.
The ‘Balers are now 5-0 overall, 2-0 in the TCAL.
