The San Benito High girls water polo team saw its season come to an end in a 16-15 overtime loss to Cupertino in a Central Coast Section Division I playoff second-round match at Sobrato High on Thursday. The No. 9 seed Haybalers finished the year at 15-9.
“I was very proud of what the girls accomplished this year, especially considering what we started with in the middle of August,” Balers coach Fred Latimore said. “I was certainly blessed with the group of players I had this year, and we had a really nice season.”
Once again, the 1-2 punch of Grace Larson and Ceily Hepner provided the bulk of the team’s offense. Larson finished with 10 goals and Hepner five, two days after the duo combined for 16 of the team’s 19 goals in a rout of Lincoln-San Jose in the opening round.
Against No. 8 seed Cupertino, however, the Balers didn’t have an answer for Anna Rajaratnam, whom Latimore estimated scored 13 of Cupertino’s 16 goals. Down by two goals with three minutes left in the fourth period, San Benito scored twice to force overtime.
But the Pioneers scored twice in the first overtime period and San Benito only scored once in the second OT period to fall short. Hepner had a terrific all-around performance, finishing with five steals and four assists. Larson had six steals and Shannon Shephens had seven assists and six steals.
“It was kind of like a heavyweight fight,” Latimore said. “We’d score a goal and then they’d score. We exchanged punches left and right all the way to the end.”
