The Gilroy girls’ water polo team kept it rolling on Wednesday –
and got some revenge in the process.
Gilroy – The Gilroy girls’ water polo team kept it rolling on Wednesday – and got some revenge in the process.
The ‘Stangs downed Monterey 9-6, increasing its overall record to 3-0. After the girls’ game, the boys’ team completed the home team sweep of Monterey with a 17-2 punishing of the Toreadors.
“We’ve never started off this strong,” said girls’ head coach Andy Been of his team’s undefeated start. “Usually Monterey beats us.”
Gilroy’s offense put the ‘Stangs ahead early 3-0, while its defense held Monterey scoreless for nearly all of the first two periods.
Junior Lauren Baty scored two of Gilroy’s first three goals and finished as the leading scorer with a total of four. Been was pleasantly surprised by Baty’s performance, as was Baty herself.
“It was shocking,” said Baty, in her second year of playing water polo and being on the varsity team. Last year, she balked when Been told her he wanted her to play up a level.
“He was like ‘Varsity!’ and (after making a skeptical face) I said, ‘Hi, I’m Lauren Baty,'” she said. “But this year I’m getting the hang of it.”
Added Been, “This is the girl that had a hard time wanting to play last year. She got sunk a lot but she kept coming back up and calling for the ball.”
Also providing the scoring power for the Mustangs were Jenny Ailes (3 goals), Elizabeth Rothenburg (1 goal) and Sarah Barnett (1 goal).
Monterey came back to score three goals in the third period after Been took out starting freshman goalie Lauren Van Herk, who had 11 blocks. But the ‘Stangs were able to keep the Toreadors at bay when Van Herk returned in the final period.
Next up for the Gilroy girls is this weekend’s Watsonville Tournament, which Been feels his team has a good chance of winning.
“We should match up real well with the teams in our pool,” Been said. “It’s just a matter of if the girls show up of not.”
In the boys’ game, the ‘Stangs (2-3) pummeled the Toreadors, despite playing without four starters. Both of Gilroy’s wins this season have come against Monterey.
Lots of Gilroy second-stringers saw time in the pool on Wednesday, several of which were pulled up from JV just for that game, said boys’ head coach Tom Clark.
“The best thing about our game is that we do a lot of conditioning and Monterey is not a bunch of swimmers,” he said. “We got to all the loose balls.”
The ‘Stangs scored in the opening drive and had a 9-1 lead by the end of the first period. After taking a 11-2 lead after two, Gilroy held Monterey scoreless in the final two periods of the game.
Leading scorer Sam Whitaker racked up five goals while Eric Boe and Nick Campelli had three apiece. In goal, Ethan Fortuna limited the Toreadors to the two goals.
