Down 4-1 in the opening minutes of the second quarter against rival Live Oak, Sobrato High’s Gabby Smith decided to take control of the final game of the annual Wahine Classic water polo tournament herself.
Smith scored the game’s next four goals to give Sobrato a lead it never relinquished in Saturday’s tournament showdown with the Acorns. The Bulldogs ran away from their rivals in the second half and put a stamp on an 11-6 victory.
The game was the end of a long day for the two teams, which entered the tournament with hopes of going undefeated. That hope, though, was quickly squashed before noon.
After winning their opening games Friday, Sobrato and Live Oak started Saturday’s play with tough losses.
Despite a game-high 10 goals from Marissa Sendejas, the Acorns couldn’t slow down Salinas and were narrowly outgunned,11-10.
Meanwhile, the Bulldogs never found any offensive rhythm against Willow Glen, losing 14-2.
But as tournaments go, those losses set up Saturday afternoon’s redemption scenarios and the marquee match between the two teams.
The Acorns started strong, scoring three of the game’s first four goals, but they slowly started to give up more and more big plays. And nearly two hours after Live Oak lost its first game, the Acorns started to tire.
“Our first game, I was really happy with them,” Live Oak head coach Sarah Crusinberry said. “We lost but we played all the way to the end and didn’t give up. They were committed to it. The last game, they didn’t want it. They were not communicating. They just gave up in the end.”
She continued: “I think a lot of them were tired, for sure.”
The Bulldogs seemed refreshed, though. Led by Smith’s seven goals, Sobrato took the lead to open the second half and quickly pulled away from the Acorns. It was a distinctly different team than the day’s opener.
“The first game, we were just not connecting the way a team should,” Sobrato head coach Cameron Peachey said. “It was a lot of individual play and that puts a lot of stress on the offense and defense … After talking with the girls and working out the things that we need to, in the second game, we came out and started playing how we want to play the game.”
That included a lot of passing and using the entire pool both offensively and defensively. The Bulldogs pressured Live Oak on the defensive side of the ball, forcing long and rushed shots. Sobrato also gave extra attention to Sendejas, limiting the Live Oak leading scorer to only three goals.
“I think we did really well,” Smith said. “We picked it up in the end. We didn’t let the first game effect us. We did everything well. We executed everything we wanted to execute and I’m really proud of us. We did really good. We made better passes, safer passes.”
Smith received a lot of help from her teammates, including goaltender Monica Lopez, who did her part in slowing down the Acorn attack. Kristen Hill finished with three goals – including the Bulldogs first – and Laeni Gross scored for the Sobrato.
With Sendejas struggling to find room to score, the Acorns used three players to tally six goals. Jessica Lawrence scored twice and Crystal Cardenas scored once for the Acorns.
Live Oak, though, missed multiple opportunities as Sendejas tallied four steals. Once the Acorns grabbed control of the ball, they struggled to find room for open shots.
“We knew this weekend would be hard because we are in a different league than most of these teams,” Sendejas said. “We tried to prepare for it, but I don’t think enough of us took it as seriously as we needed to.”
The day did seem to start well for the Acorns, but over time they started to struggle.
“The first game was really tough for us so we really went all out,” Sendejas said. “We were just really tired. We weren’t as pumped up as we usually are when we play Sobrato. The last time we played them, we did really well.”
Against Salinas, Live Oak was nearly a one-woman team. Sendejas controlled the game’s tempo both offensively and defensively, stealing eight balls and scoring a game-high 10 times. She never found that same space against the Bulldogs.
Despite the loss, Sendejas has high expectations for the 5-2 Acorns in league play.
“I think the best thing to take out of it is not to put our heads down,” she said. “We lost two games, ‘boo ho.’ We know we are going to (do well in) division. We know when we get in our league we are going to kill.”
Crusinberry called the tournament a “learning experience” for the Acorns.
“They have to figure out what gets them fired up,” Crusinberry said. “We have to find that out. Some of them have issues focusing at practice, so we have to take this as a learning experience. We have to pick it up in practice and pick in up in our games.”
The Acorns travel to Lincoln High on Thursday to continue their season. The game starts at 5 p.m.
For the Bulldogs, the win over Live Oak was further proof of what teamwork could do for them.
‘Well, this whole tournament kind of shows us where we need to progress,” Peachey said. “Honestly, from this point on to the end of the season, it’s a staircase. It’s how we get up the next step of play. It shows us where we need to work on to become a CCS-competitive team like we were last year.”
The Bulldogs host Willow Glen at 6 p.m. Wednesday.
