When it comes to girls water polo in the Blossom Valley Athletic
League, Leland High is on a completely different level from the
rest of the league.
Morgan Hill – When it comes to girls water polo in the Blossom Valley Athletic League, Leland High is on a completely different level from the rest of the league.
Live Oak found that out again on Tuesday in a 15-3 loss to the Chargers, who improved to 8-2 overall and 2-0 in Mount Hamilton Division play with the win.
“Learning where our weak points are,” Acorns coach Sharon Hyrne said of what her team can take out of playing a powerhouse such as Leland, who also beat Live Oak 14-3 in a tournament earlier this year.
“It’s easy when we play games like we did last week (18-1 win over Willow Glen) to focus on the positives, which is important,” Hyrne added. “But when we play tougher teams and better teams than we are, that’s an excellent learning opportunity.”
That being said, consider this game Water Polo 101. After a slow start where a solid Acorns defense kept the Chargers scoreless for half of the first quarter, Leland put on a clinic.
Courtney Monsees score the first goal of the game with 3:20 left and punched in three more in the next 1:30 to make it 4-0. Elena Santamaria added a penalty shot goal and Christy Stibbe scored twice in the period’s final minute to give the Chargers a 7-0 lead.
Live Oak broke the shutout when Laura Shope scored on a feed from Missy Wilder early in the second, but three more goals from Santamaria, a goal from Stibbe and a goal from Andrea Henneman made it a 12-1 lead for Leland at halftime.
Melissa Poon and Jessica Poon both threw home second-half goal for Live Oak and goalie Chelsea Carrillo had a solid game with 12 saves.
Jimmy Durkin is the Morgan Hill Times sports editor. Reach him at (408) 779-4106 ext. 203 or jd*****@*************es.com.
