Morgan Hill – Jumping out to a 1-0 league record, the Live Oak
boys and girls water polo teams slammed the Pioneer Mustangs
Wednesday in the Acorns’ Blossom Valley Athletic League home
opener.
Morgan Hill – Jumping out to a 1-0 league record, the Live Oak boys and girls water polo teams slammed the Pioneer Mustangs Wednesday in the Acorns’ Blossom Valley Athletic League home opener.
Boys: Live Oak 15, Pioneer 3
Led by senior Sam Cretcher, with five goals, the Live Oak boys used their speedy swimming abilities to control the ball and pressure the Mustangs.
Coming into the season with a core of young, partially inexperienced players, coach Mack Haines expected his team to take more lumps and bruises than they have.
“Since the beginning when we lost a couple of key seniors the younger guys have come together and played really unselfishly,” Haines said. “The offense has been sporadic but the defensive hustle has been constant.”
The catalyst in Wednesday’s game was junior Steven Rick’s swimming ability to stretch the court.
Sophomores Jason Van’t Rood and Cody Coleman, and freshman Danny Robinson are playing great team defense and making improvements each game, Haines said.
Senior Alex Sennert was the second leading scorer for the Acorns with three goals.
Girls: Live Oak 16, Pioneer 8
In similar fashion the lady Acorns used pool speed, stifling defense, and one cross-court shot from goalie Shelby Carillo to defeat the Mustangs.
With almost everyone in the pool adding to the offensive display, Rachel Cretcher, Sarah D‚Angelo, Jessica Poon, and Katie Rick did much of the heavy lifting for Live Oak.
Rick led all scorers with five goals, Poon had three, Sarah D’Angelo, Rachel Cretcher, and Priscilla Orona each had 2, and Sarah Sendejas had one.
In a display of speed and skill Rick led the Acorns charge, avoiding defenders and keeping steady control of the ball, and set up Cretcher for her first goal of the game with 1:35 left in the second period.
37 seconds later Rick again took control of the ball, and the game, scoring her second goal of the period and extending the Acorns lead 8-1.
Goalie Shelby Carillo also had one, amazing cross-court goal.
With five seconds left in the second period, recognizing that the Mustangs goalie was away from the cage, Carillo extended Live Oak’s lead to 9-1 with a high flying shot from the Acorns goal across the pool and into the Mustangs net.
The Mustangs eventually cut the Acorns lead in half, but were unable to match the speed or offensive tenacity of the Acorns.
With the win Live Oak extended it’s overall record to 7-1 and got a good start to league at 1-0.
