Gilroy goalkeeper blocks two penalty shots to secure 7-4 victory
over Carmel
GILROY – Lady Mustang netminder Laura Rink guessed to jump to her left on two straight four-meter penalty shots in the fourth quarter of Wednesday’s league match against Carmel.
She guessed right – diving to block both close-range blasts to help preserve the Lady Mustangs’ 7-4 home victory and their first T-CAL win in the early game of a girls-boys water polo doubleheader.
“I’ve always been taught to pick a side and jump towards it. So it’s all about luck,” said Rink, whose older brother Deskin Rink was a former standout goalie for the Mustang boys polo squad. “It’s kinda in the family.”
Early in the third quarter, Rink let Carmel’s first of three four-meter shots get past her to cut the gap to two – but the cagey goalkeeper could not be more right when it counted most.
With Gilroy taking a 7-3 lead into the final quarter, Rink brushed aside a four-meter shot in the opening minute and then another with 1:00 left and the lead trimmed to three.
“It’s nice to see that. She’s a great goalie. She is one of the best players on our team and the best goaltender in the league,” said head coach Andy Been of Rink. “I wish we were getting those four-meter shots, though. We seem to be giving them, but we haven’t been getting them.”
Gilroy did not need any gimmes as junior center attack Lauryn Rossi netted a team-high four goals and teammate Kim Spaulding tallied two along with one from Kate Peterson.
“As a whole, we’re playing so much better than last year,” said Rink, following Wednesday’s victory that upped Gilroy’s record to 5-8 overall and 1-3 in T-CAL. “Last year, we had only one shooter. Now our shooting is more spread around to the other girls.”
Carmel got on the board first scoring 20 seconds in for the only goal of the first quarter. But the Lady Mustang offense caught fire in the second period – scoring four straight to take a 4-1 lead and then a fifth to extend to regain their three-goal advantage.
After Rossi pinned the upper right corner two consecutive times, Peterson deflected one off the crossbar for a goal and then Spaulding found the back of the net to finish the flurry. Carmel came back with a goal – but Rossi retaliated with her third strike of the second quarter.
“I’ve changed the offense and changed positions,” said Been in his first season at Gilroy High, who is also a coach for the Gilroy Gators swim club. “They controlled the ball better. They were holding the ball, working for the foul to get them inside. It was nice to see them control the ball.”
Despite not scoring one of their own, the Lady Mustangs played sound defense in front of Rink – allowing only one goal in the final quarter. Gilroy looks for more in Wednesday’s road match against neighboring rival Live Oak at 3:30 p.m.
“It’s nice to get a league win finally,” said Been, whose squad placed fourth in the Watsonville Tournament last weekend. “We played in a tournament over the weekend and won our first two games with only seven players. Then we lost to Harbor and to Watsonville, but we took fourth.”
