Not a late first-half goal or a 30-minute power outage was able
to sink the San Benito High girls water polo team Tuesday, as the
second-seeded Lady Balers posted a 12-5 victory over No. 7 Monterey
in the opening round of the Tri-County Athletic League
Tournament.
CARMEL
Not a late first-half goal or a 30-minute power outage was able to sink the San Benito High girls water polo team Tuesday, as the second-seeded Lady Balers posted a 12-5 victory over No. 7 Monterey in the opening round of the Tri-County Athletic League Tournament.
The comfortable win advances San Benito to Thursday’s semifinal round, where the Lady Balers will battle No. 3 Gilroy in Carmel — the winner moving on to Saturday’s championship.
San Benito defeated Gilroy 15-8 on Sept. 10.
Tuesday’s quarterfinal match-up against the Toreadors, meanwhile, a team San Benito also defeated in September by a 20-11 margin, had plenty of setbacks to keep the Lady Balers off their game.
After jumping out to an 8-2 lead in the second quarter, San Benito was whistled for a major penalty and Monterey was awarded a five-meter shot with just tenths of a second remaining in the half.
The Toreadors converted the penalty into an 8-3 halftime deficit, but San Benito head coach Hayley Vandercook said the late score “put a weird damper” on the third quarter.
To make matters worse, the pool’s lights, which were set on a timer, shut off midway through the third quarter, resulting in a 30-minute stoppage of play.
“It was completely black,” Vandercook said. “It kind of messed up our flow.”
But while San Benito was held scoreless in the third quarter, it deposited four goals in the final stanza and kept Monterey at bay in the end.
Jeannette Rodriguez, Caitlin Schafer, Lyndsay De La Torre, Hannah Smith and Amanda Virak each deposited two goals for the Lady Balers, while Hannah Blake and Demi Gatrell each added one score. San Benito improves to 13-6 overall.
The Lady Balers will square off against Gilroy Thursday in Carmel at 5:30 p.m. In the other semifinal match-up, top-seeded Salinas will play Stevenson.
