GILROY – Up by three with a minute and a half to play in the
fourth quarter, the Gilroy High girls varsity water polo team
withstood a two-goal flurry by the visiting Carmel Padres and came
up with one last defensive stand with 24 seconds left to hold onto
a 13-12 victory Wednesday.
GILROY – Up by three with a minute and a half to play in the fourth quarter, the Gilroy High girls varsity water polo team withstood a two-goal flurry by the visiting Carmel Padres and came up with one last defensive stand with 24 seconds left to hold onto a 13-12 victory Wednesday.
“(Carmel) adjusts really well,” said Mustangs coach Sean LaGuardia. “It’s always close when we play them. It wasn’t as stellar of a defense as we would like, but we were able to hold them that last possession.”
With a handful of his players under the weather, LaGuardia had to call on the services of a few of his junior varsity players, Corrine Keller, Angelina Vannie and Brittney Salcido, to fill in and spell his starting varsity girls when they needed a break.
“They did a good job,” LaGuardia said of his JV girls. “They did what they had to.”
The game was tightly contested throughout with each quarter ending with the Mustangs up by a single goal – the eventual margin of victory for Gilroy.
Down two goals early in the first, junior Chelsea Hill caught the entire Padres defense off guard, snapping off a backhanded shot from five meters out.
“I haven’t done one of them yet this season,” Hill said. “The goalie did not expect it. It made a really loud thud, so I was excited.”
Hill tossed in a team-high eight goals, including four second half tallies.
The Mustangs hunkered down to take a 6-3 lead midway through the second quarter, but the pesky Padres who battled from behind all game, scored on three straight possessions to knot things up at 6-6.
Hill put Gilroy back in front, 7-6, two seconds before halftime.
Carmel’s Steph Haisley repeatedly challenged the Mustangs defense, especially in the second half. Haisley carried the Padres’ offense with five of their six second half goals.
However, the Mustangs kept the ball out of her hands in the waning seconds, forcing the Padres to turn to another shooter to try to tie the game.
Lauren Rhodes, Michelle Shields and Francesca Comin also contributed goals for the Mustangs.
