GILROY
– Seniors Diana Wallace and Danell Dow have played water polo
together for the past four years and, in Monday’s 12-6 home victory
over Carmel, it showed as Wallace assisted on four of Dow’s
team-high six goals.
GILROY – Seniors Diana Wallace and Danell Dow have played water polo together for the past four years and, in Monday’s 12-6 home victory over Carmel, it showed as Wallace assisted on four of Dow’s team-high six goals.
“Diana and I are the same age, we’re both seniors, and we’ve both played for four years.,” said Dow, who also finished with two assists. “We know what each other’s thinking. We practice together all the time.”
The years of practice worked wonders for Gilroy – which rode the Wallace-Dow connection to its first league victory over the season heading into Wedneday’s tough battle against rival Live Oak.
“We just played with a lot more spirit than usual. I got hurt in the Monterey game and the girls were down. We just came out today and went at it,” said Dow, a team captain. “It feels really good to win. We have Live Oak next. With Live Oak, we played them twice and the first time they killed us. The second time we played better but they still killed us. We’re just going to go try our best and play a good game.”
The Lady Mustangs held onto a two-goal lead against Carmel into the final quarter before finally breaking away with six fourth-quarter strikes. Along with Dow’s six-pack, Wallace scored one, Kim Spaulding netted two and Lauryn Rossi added a hat trick.
“I was encouraged by their shooting, although Danell took most of them. We were able to spread it around. Kim Spaulding was more aggressive, moving up to take her shots. Lauryn Rossi and Diana Wallace were both taking more shots,” said head coach Mark Rose, who was happy to see his team pull away late.
“I thought we could break away. That was something we talked about at the end of every quarter,” the head coach added. “In the fourth, we were able to take advantage of our experience.”
Following Wednesday’s match against Live Oak, the Lady Mustangs will partake in the Lady Acorns’ Polo Feast starting Friday and continuing on Saturday.
