It was good to be back home.
Playing at the Gilroy High pool for the first time all season,
both the Mustang water polo teams rolled to easy victories over
Monterey High Thursday.
It was good to be back home.
Playing at the Gilroy High pool for the first time all season, both the Mustang water polo teams rolled to easy victories over Monterey High Thursday.
The girls’ team (2-1) beat the Toreadors, 9-4, while the boys (4-2) coasted to a 16-5 win.
Until a couple of weeks ago, both teams were having to share the pool at South Valley Middle School – along with the junior varsity squads and the Gilroy Gators.
Why? A drained GHS pool with a pipe problem was made even worse when skateboarders rode in the hole and ripped up a number of tiles.
As a result, both teams were forced to move a scheduled Sept. 1 home opener against San Benito to the road. And both teams were soundly defeated.
“It was rough,” boys’ coach Tom Clark said of the situation.
Both squads have recovered nicely since that day in Hollister, though.
At a tournament in Watsonville two weeks ago, Clark’s team won three of four matches. The Mustangs lost to powerhouse Santa Cruz, but cruised to laughers over SLV, Santa Clara and host Watsonville.
The game against Monterey ended up a laugher, but it was actually the Toreadors that got on the board first with a quick goal.
“To be honest, I think that shocked us,” said Clark, who noted his team has been a slow starter all season. “I think it kind of shocked them, too.”
By the end of the first half, though, it was 12-4 Gilroy and Clark was already putting in his reserves.
Leading scorer Lee Walton led the Mustangs with four goals, while sophomore Austin Gubrude added three of his own.
For the girls, it was the Lauryn and Laura show.
Senior Lauryn Rossi, who scored ten goals in the team’s first two games – including a 12-4 win at Notre Dame last week – added five more against the Toreadors.
“She’s got the green light anytime,” head coach Andy Been said. “So we feed it to her as much as we can.
“And she delivers.”
So does goalie Laura Rink, who reeled in 24 saves against Monterey.
“She came through big-time,” Been said.
Added Rossi of her fellow senior: “Up and down the pool, whenever we can’t keep up, she saves our butts again and again.”
