Less than 10 seconds after San Benito was called for the major
foul, Stevenson’s Logan Randolph took advantage of the man-up
opportunity when he found Brian Bhaskar on the left side for the
go-ahead goal, and the Pirates held on late for a 14-13
victory.
HOLLISTER
Seconds after Eric Nicolaysen delivered a cross-pool backdoor pass to Josh Schafer for the game-tying score Wednesday — a goal that knotted San Benito’s exhaustive match with visiting Stevenson at 13-all — the Balers were called for a major foul with approximately 40 seconds remaining in regulation.
“It was a really intense, hard game,” Schafer said. ” None of us gave up.”
After battling back from as many as five goals at one point earlier in the contest, San Benito was forced into another uneven situation late in the match. But despite controlling the second half with smothering defense and a sound offense, a man-down situation in the waning seconds of regulation was too much for the Balers to overcome.
Less than 10 seconds after San Benito was called for the major foul, Stevenson’s Logan Randolph took advantage of the man-up opportunity when he found Brian Bhaskar on the left side for the go-ahead goal, and the Pirates held on late for a 14-13 victory.
“But they’re playing together as a team — a little more positive and a little more supportive,” San Benito head coach Tom Agan said.
The narrow defeat was perhaps difficult to swallow for some on San Benito, but Agan certainly saw a silver lining. The one-goal loss, which could have very easily gone San Benito’s way, came just five days after the South Valley Polo Fest in Morgan Hill, where the Balers lost to Stevenson in tournament play, 13-6.
“I’ve said all along that there are three teams that can win the TCAL — Salinas, Carmel and Stevenson,” Agan said. “But I’m gonna add another name to that list — San Benito High School.”
Agan was unsure whether facing RLS last Friday had any affect on the Balers Wednesday in Hollister, but hole set Nick Angulo felt the previous tournament match against the league rival was beneficial.
“It was, because we found out they had more talent than we thought,” said Angulo, who led San Benito with a game-high six goals Wednesday. “I think we’re playing really good. We lost to them by [seven goals], now we lost to them by one. We’re improving pretty much every game.”
San Benito, which falls to 3-3 in the TCAL and 7-9 overall, received four goals from Tyler Agan and eight saves from Trevor Agan. Stevenson’s Tucker Forbes and Connor Stuewe each had four goals apiece.
The Balers were all-too close to beating RLS by one goal on Wednesday, however, instead of the other way around. On two different occasions, San Benito’s Josh Schafer appeared to have a pair of goals, but neither score was ever made official.
Both controversial shots came during a wild third quarter in which the Balers trailed Stevenson by an 8-5 margin to begin the period. In the opening minute, however, Schafer was awarded a five-meter shot that would have cut Stevenson’s lead to two.
Schafer’s shot was rifled to the left side of the net and appeared to hit the back left post inside the goal, but the ball bounced back out so quickly officials never awarded San Benito a point.
Stevenson’s three-goal halftime lead, meanwhile, was quickly erased, nonetheless.
After Danny Jarrett, Angulo and Tyler Agan each pocketed scores to knot the match at 8-all midway through the third quarter, both teams went back-and-forth until the end of regulation — neither team ever garnering a two-goal cushion.
“We knew that we could still win it, because we were only down by three (goals),” Schafer said. “Once we got one goal, we just kept going.”
But when Jarrett hit Angulo for the go-ahead goal to make it 11-10 with 1:06 left in the third quarter, the Balers had a chance to take a two-goal lead when Schafer had a one-on-one situation with Stevenson keeper Beau Bayless.
Schafer’s shot banged off the right post, however, then ricocheted left and appeared to hit the back left post inside the goal once again, which would constitute a point. But officials never motioned for a goal.
“They were goals,” said Schafer, who finished with one score in the match.
The fourth quarter was a defensive battle that saw the Pirates hold its 13-12 lead for nearly four minutes until Nicolaysen found Schafer for the game-tying goal with 50 seconds remaining.
But the man-down situation with 40 seconds left led to San Benito’s undoing.
“We’ll move on. There is no doubt in my mind that these guys can contend for a league championship,” Agan said. “They just proved it, and we’ve still got plenty of time in the season to step up our game.”
TEAM 1 2 3 4 F
STEV 5 3 3 3 14
SANB 2 3 6 2 13
SBHS Girls Water Polo
The San Benito High girls water polo team defeated visiting Stevenson 11-5 on Wednesday in Hollister.
Last weekend at the H2Oktoberfest, the Lady Balers went 1-2 to finish in fourth place. San Benito defeated Santa Catalina 17-1 before falling to San Lorenzo Valley 6-5 and Salinas 6-2.
The fourth quarter proved to be San Benito’s demise against league rival Salinas, which took third place at the eight-team tournament. The two teams were tied 1-1 at halftime and 2-2 after three quarters before the Cowboys scored four unanswered goals in the final period.
San Lorenzo Valley, meanwhile, finished runner-up to Los Altos.
San Benito head coach Hayley Vandercook said her team was somewhat shorthanded due to SAT weekend at the high school. The Lady Balers are now 4-1 in the TCAL and 8-6 overall.
San Benito will visit Lincoln Monday at 3:30 p.m.
