Boys squad hit hard at home in 24-4 loss to powerful Acorns
GILROY – The Mustang boys water polo team found out quickly how deadly the Live Oak attack can be and there was not much they could do to stop it throughout Wednesday’s 24-4 home loss.
“We’ve got some good players. They just took us out of our game. They’re a good team and they do that,” said head coach Tom Clark, who felt his players got intimidated early against one of the section’s top 10 units.
After junior Scott Dickson got Gilroy on the board first off a feed from teammate Lee Walto only 34 seconds in, the Acorns took over – netting three straight to claim the lead. Junior captain Travis Gamble skipped a shot off the water into the back of the net to keep pace, but Live Oak scored the final four goals of the first quarter for a commanding 7-2 advantage.
“We’re sitting (around), not making a move to the ball,” said Clark, hoping for a better showing out of his troops. “They kept taking the ball away. We’re not making that first move.”
Along with a swarming defense, Live Oak sniped away – netting seven more goals in the second quarter to extend to a 14-3 lead at the break.
Gilroy tried to switch things up for a spark in the second half – moving attacker Santiago Maciel back on defense and sliding Gamble up to the front-line. The Acorns were unphazed – scoring seven goals for the third straight quarter. Maciel netted the lone Gilroy goal, but the Mustangs were down, 21-4.
Live Oak then went on to score three more in the final quarter, while shutting out the Mustangs in the process.
“We’ve got time. We have a whole week before we play again,” said Clark, whose squad’s record stands at 2-2 in league and 10-6 overall. “We’ll work it out.”
Up next, the Mustangs will host Stevenson for a 3:30 p.m. match-up in the Gilroy High pool.
