The San Benito girls water polo team fell behind by a single
goal in the waning moments of Wednesday’s opening round contest
with Los Gatos and couldn’t find the equalizer late, as Los Gatos
eked out a 6-5 victory over the Balers in the Central Coast Section
playoffs.
CUPERTINO
Had there been maybe more one minute in regulation, who knows what the final score would have been.
Instead, the San Benito girls water polo team fell behind by a single goal in the waning moments of Wednesday’s opening round contest with Los Gatos and couldn’t find the equalizer late, as Los Gatos eked out a 6-5 victory over the Balers in the Central Coast Section playoffs.
In a true back-and-forth contest — the two teams were tied at the end of each quarter — Los Gatos pulled ahead 6-5 on a man-up opportunity in the final minute of play. The Balers were unable to respond on their ensuing possession, however, leaving roughly 31 seconds left in the match.
Los Gatos then played keep-away in order to run out the clock, and after a shot-clock violation turned the ball over, San Benito managed to get the ball back with one second remaining.
It didn’t get another shot off, though.
“If we had another minute, who knows,” San Benito head coach Hayley Vandercook said. “It was definitely a playoff game. Both of the teams played really well, but they came out on top in the last second.
“I’m proud of my girls.”
San Benito, which earned the No. 10 seed, finishes with a 18-7 overall record, while No. 7 Los Gatos (14-11) advances to Saturday’s quarterfinal round against No. 2 Leland (22-4).
Wednesday’s match was by far the most competitive of the opening-round contests, though. Mitty defeated Lynbrook 19-1, Palo Alto topped Santa Teresa 10-2, and Sequoia beat Gilroy, which earned the Tri-County Athletic League championship on Saturday with a win over the Balers, by a 10-4 margin.
San Benito and Los Gatos, meanwhile, was tied 1-1 after the first quarter, 2-2 at halftime and 3-3 entering the final stanza.
“It was a back-and-forth game, obviously,” Vandercook said. “It was a very intense, defensive game — lots of ejections.”
Hole defense Lauren Lango picked up her third foul in the game with one minute remaining in the fourth quarter, and Los Gatos capitalized by taking a 6-5 lead as a result of the man-up situation.
“They had a really good hole set and she did really well the whole game,” Vandercook said of Lango.
After San Benito was unable to tie the game on its ensuing possession, Los Gatos decided to exhaust its shot clock.
The Balers did the ball back with one second remaining, and San Benito called a timeout as a result. But Caitlin Schafer was unable to get a final shot off.
Schafer finished with two goals, while Jeanett Rodriguez, Hannah Smith and Rachel Estep each provided one goal apiece. Keeper Marieke Liem had 21 saves in the match.
“Yeah, she played fantastic,” Vandercook said of her senior goalie.
San Benito will graduate nine seniors from the team, including Sarina Schnekenburger, Jeanett Rodriguez, Lindsay De La Torre, Lauren Lango, Brittany Olguin, Beka Torres, Anna Dickson, Victoria Bustamante and Marieke Liem.
TEAM 1 2 3 4 F
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