GILROY – In a tight game from start to finish, plenty of quality
scoring chances went by the wayside as the Gilroy High boys varsity
water polo team came up just shy of Palma, losing 8-4 on senior day
Thursday in Gilroy.
GILROY – In a tight game from start to finish, plenty of quality scoring chances went by the wayside as the Gilroy High boys varsity water polo team came up just shy of Palma, losing 8-4 on senior day Thursday in Gilroy.
Four seniors donned their blue caps for one final home game and were honored at halftime, but the story in the pool wasn’t as cheerful.
A defensive struggle left both teams at 0-0 by the end of the first quarter.
Mustangs goalie Trevor Williams stopped two Chieftains shots on back-to-back possessions to open the game. Neither team put together much of an offensive threat against each other’s stingy defenses.
“Our defense was really strong,” GHS head coach Tom Clark said. “I was pleased with the guys. It was a good game for them.”
With 20 seconds left in the opening quarter, the Mustangs caught a break as Palma’s goalie was called for a foul leading to his ejection, leaving Gilroy a man up the remainder of the quarter. The Mustangs were unable to capitalize, a trend that continued throughout the contest.
“We got a lot of ejections off of them,” Clark said. “We can’t blow those man-up situations. It is ridiculous that we’re losing that opportunity. That’s what killed us.”
The Mustangs had five man-up opportunities but could only convert one goal off of the advantage.
The Chieftains began the second quarter on a scoring barrage with goals on four straight trips down the pool to take a 4-0 lead at halftime.
With plenty of time left to close the gap, Gilroy narrowed the lead to three 40 seconds into the third quarter as Alan Lindseth put a much needed goal in the back of the cage.
Palma came right back and pushed the lead again up to four where it sat until Michael Shields scored with three ticks left in the third to make it 5-2.
Senior Zack Kendrick poured in two fourth quarter goals for the Mustangs, including a nice give-and-go with senior Eddie Malick. But three Palma goals in the closing quarter sealed Gilroy’s fate.
“We had a lot of drives and we amped up our defense,” Kendrick said. “This game easily could’ve been a lot closer in the score. In actual playing it was closer. We just didn’t really finish off our chances and opportunities.”
The Mustangs face Salinas on Tuesday and then go against Watsonville to wrap up regular-season league play Monday, Oct. 26.
