The Carpinteria girls water polo team finished play at the Buena Tournament Saturday with a 7-3 win over Cajon and then a heartbreaking 5-4 sudden death OT loss to Mayfield of Pasadena in the fifth-place game.
“It was a fantastic tournament with evenly ranked teams creating close, challenging matches,” Carpinteria coach Jon Otsuki said. “The Warriors finished 2-2 and a respectable sixth place finish.”
In the opening game, Carpinteria put the brakes on Cajon, a large (more than 3,000 enrollment) school from San Bernadino. Senior Taylor Classen and sophomore Giulia Piccoletti led the Warriors in scoring with three goals each, with Lilli Nemetz tallying one.
Senior goalie Erin Otsuki recorded 16 blocks and two steals.
The second game was a defensive battle with never more than a goal separating the two teams and each quarter ending in a tie.
Mayfield had a 4-3 lead with 31 seconds to play in the game when Carpinteria called a timeout. The team ran a play Otsuki said was just implemented at practice a couple of days before, “which freed up utility player Lilli Nemetz, who beat the goalie with a well placed shot to send the game to sudden death.”
In the OT, the Warriors won the sprint but missed the shot attempt on their only possession. On Mayfield’s only possession, a player had a rare open look at the cage and put the ball in the top corner for the win at 5-4, Otsuki said.
Nemetz scored three goals and Piccoletti one.
Otsuki had yet another great game blocking 15 shots on goal, giving her 61 for the tournament.
Through the two days and four games the Warriors defense allowed an average 5.3 goals per game.
“The tournament is the first stage of a busy January,” Jon Otsuki said, including a packed schedule next week. The Warriors play Channel Islands on Monday, Hueneme on Tuesday, Santa Paula on Thursday, and then five games on Friday and Saturday at a tournament hosted by Oxnard.