Girls polo threatens, but falls one short
HOLLISTER – The No. 5 seed Lady Mustang water polo team dug deep for its opening round contest against No. 4 Santa Catalina in the San Benito High pool – putting forth one of its strongest efforts of the year.
Trailing by two in the final period, Gilroy’s Lauryn Rossi took a feed from teammate Roseanna Rossi and netted her fourth goal on the day to inch her squad within 7-6. The Lady Mustangs kept on coming with a late barrage of shots, but could not even the score as they fell, 7-6.
Gilroy is still in the playoff picture though – moving into the loser’s bracket with a Thursday 3:30 p.m. match-up against Notre Dame in the Santa Catalina High pool.
“The three times we played them the score got closer and closer, but the last time we played them we blew them out,” said senior captain Danell Dow of Notre Dame.
In the hard-to-swallow loss to Santa Catalina, the Lady Mustangs fell behind early by a 4-2 margin in the first quarter with Rossi and Dow scoring for Gilroy. But the second quarter brought out the best in the locals as Dow scored an unassisted goal from the seven-meter mark for the only strike by either team. At the half, Gilroy trailed 4-3.
The battle continued in the third quarter as Dow, covered like a blanket, passed off to Rossi – who scored a pair of goals to keep pace. But Santa Catalina came on strong as well – taking a 7-5 lead into the final period.
Rossi brought the Lady Mustangs to within one – but that would be their final goal of the contest.
Goaltender Laura Rink was a force in net, while teammate Diana Wallace (six steals) contained Santa Catalina’s top-scorer with tight coverage throughout.
