The San Benito High water polo team stayed with visiting Robert
Louis Stevenson but lost 14-8 after having to play catchup most of
the game.
The game closed out the league part of the schedule for the
Balers (9-16, 3-3 TCAL). San Benito will get tuned up for the
league finals, which begin Nov. 5, by participating in the Monte
Vista Invitational this weekend. The first game will be against
Saratoga on Friday at 3:45 p.m.
The San Benito High water polo team stayed with visiting Robert Louis Stevenson but lost 14-8 after having to play catchup most of the game.
The game closed out the league part of the schedule for the Balers (9-16, 3-3 TCAL). San Benito will get tuned up for the league finals, which begin Nov. 5, by participating in the Monte Vista Invitational this weekend. The first game will be against Saratoga on Friday at 3:45 p.m.
“I know we can do better,” Haybaler coach Tom Agan said after the game. “We are not playing to our full potential. I am frustrated because I know they can play at a different level. I want to try to get them to that next level.”
The Balers opened up the game in a 5-1 deficit but were able to pull within 6-4 at the half. But the Pirates got a couple goals at the start of the third quarter.
“We tried a couple things with the double set,” Agan said. “We had a lot of passing errors, and you can’t do that. Our guys did a pretty descent job with our setup. We just never got our offense going.”
Joel Smith, who scored a goal for the Balers, had numerous opportunities to score, but several shots hit the post or were gobbled up by goalie Will Hertlein.
For the Balers, Nick Dain had nine saves including a nice save on a 4-meter shot in the fourth quarter. The first attempt bounced off the post, and Dain was able to knock away the rebound attempt.
Lucas Zepeda again led the Balers with four goals. Sean Russell, Ben Dietrich, Dave Smith and Joel Smith added single goals.
The Pirates had just two scorers, but they came up big. Nick Hambley had 10 goals and Brendan Sigourney had four goals.
“They’re fast,” Agan said. “Sigourney is a great talent. We had a lot of trouble shutting him down. If he wasn’t making the shot, he was getting it to the other guys. He was the offense.”
Zepeda scrambled to the ball with two seconds to go in the third quarter and whipped it in for a goal to get the Balers within 9-6. But RLS went on a 4-1 run in the fourth quarter to win.
“We did an OK job,” Agan said. “We would have had to do a great job to beat them. We weren’t real consistent. We were taking the shots, but they wouldn’t go. It would have been a real tight game if half of the shots fell.”
JV Note: The Baler JV team wrapped up its regular season schedule with a 11-5 win over RLS Tuesday. The team took a 3-2 lead with a couple seconds left in the first quarter then opened it up in the fourth quarter to win 11-5.
The Balers, who play this weekend in the Leland tournament, finished up the TCAL schedule with a 5-1 record.
Rory Block and Jamie Ashford each had three goals for the Balers.
James Schafer, Jessie Rice, Greg Valenzuela, Curtis Wall and Blane Curtice also scored goals.
“I am happy with the way the kids played,” said Baler coach John Agan. “With our defense, we were able to press the ball and force them to make some passing errors. They did several things we’ve been working on in practice.”
