After coasting to the championship with three wins over Harbor,
Mercy and Monterey, the San Benito girls water polo team staved off
a last-minute surge from rival Gilroy Saturday to claim first place
at the Monterey Bay Shootout with a come-from-behind 8-7
victory.
WATSONVILLE
After coasting to the championship with three wins over Harbor, Mercy and Monterey, the San Benito girls water polo team staved off a last-minute surge from rival Gilroy Saturday to claim first place at the Monterey Bay Shootout with a come-from-behind 8-7 victory.
The Balers trailed their league foe 4-3 at halftime and 6-5 entering the fourth quarter. But a game-tying goal by Hannah Smith 15 seconds into the final period set up the go-ahead goal by Jeanett Rodriguez one minute later.
Lauren Lango then provided some insurance for San Benito to put the Balers ahead 8-6 in the fourth quarter, while San Benito’s defense held Gilroy to a lone goal in the final stanza, one that didn’t come until 43 seconds remained in the period.
“After that, we just held on to the ball and played good defense,” San Benito head coach Hayley Vandercook said.
Rodriguez, Smith and Caitlin Schafer each provided two goals apiece for San Benito, while Sarina Schekenburger and Lango finished with one.
Brittany Olguin finished with eight saves.
The narrow victory capped a four-win effort by the Balers on Friday and Saturday in Watsonville. San Benito opened with a 9-2 victory against Harbor and followed with a 12-5 win against Mercy.
The Balers then wrapped up pool play with an easy 14-2 score over Monterey.
Schafer led San Benito with 15 goals through four games, while Smith chimed in with nine and Rodriguez followed with seven. Schekenburger finished with five goals, while Lindsay De La Torre had three and both Lango and Anna Dickson finished with two.
Olguin played keeper for two games and finished with a total of 11 saves, while teammate Rachel Estep played net in the other two games and blocked 14 shots.
San Benito is off until Thursday when it will visit Hartnell College to take on Salinas. Match time is 3:30 p.m.
San Benito Boys Water Polo
After dropping its first two games at the St. Francis Invitational last weekend, the San Benito boys water polo team rebounded to take its last two contests against Palma and Novato to finish with a 2-2 record.
The Balers, who had previously defeated Palma 12-7 last Monday in Tri-County Athletic League action, topped the Chieftains again on Saturday, this time by a 12-6 margin.
“We played good polo,” said San Benito head coach Tom Agan, whose played several subs in the second half after his team led 8-1 at halftime.
Tyler Reuther and Carlos Huerta each provided three goals apiece for San Benito, while Jaret Barrios, Jordan Dain, Joe Larson, Nick Angulo, Jake Garcia and Danny Jarrett each had one goal.
Trevor Agan has seven saves in net for the Balers.
San Benito’s fourth game of the tournament fared in its favor as well — a 16-6 win over Novato behind a six-goal effort from Angulo.
Reuther and Huerta again scored three goals each for San Benito. Garcia finished with a pair of goals while Dain and Jarrett each provided one and Agan finished with four saves.
The Balers dropped its first game of the tournament 13-10 to Pinole, however. The two teams were knotted 6-all midway through the second quarter when Pinole grabbed a two-goal lead heading into halftime.
Angulo finished with eight goals for the Balers, while both Barrios and Pat Maguire finished with one.
San Benito’s tight loss preceded a 19-10 defeat against Gunn, despite seven goals from Angulo.
“At times we looked really, really good. Other times we looked young and inexperienced, which is where we’re at,” Agan said. “But we’re getting there.”
San Benito will return to TCAL play on Thursday when it will host Salinas at 3:30 p.m.
