On a day when San Marcos girls water polo celebrated its seniors, sophomore Charlotte Raisin stole the show and powered the Royals to a 12-5 win over rival Dos Pueblos on Tuesday at the San Marcos pool deck.
Raisin’s four-goal, three-assist performance kept San Marcos (19-3, 5-0 Channel League) undefeated in league play while handing the Chargers (8-7, 2-1) their first league loss.
The three seniors that were honored by San Marcos were Makenna Stretz, Serenity Stanfield and Kiera Kinsella.
“Kiera is a great kid who is going to do great things, but unfortunately hasn’t been out with us (due to injury),” Roth said. “Serenity gave up her love for playing in the field to play goalie for us, she’s very selfless. Makenna has improved a lot and has been all in since the first day.”
Dos Pueblos’ Frankie Court got the scoring started 30 seconds into the game, finding the back of the cage on a penalty shot to give her team a 1-0 lead.
Marina Brown answered right back with a goal for San Marcos, assisted by Raisin.
The Chargers’ strong start continued a few minutes later when Devereaux Wigo found HanaLora Abel for a score and a 2-1 advantage.
However, the Royals settled in on both ends of the pool and outscored Dos Pueblos 3-0 in the final four minutes of the first quarter.
Two of the three goals came courtesy of Makenna Stretz as she was found by Bethany King and Raisin. The third goal was Raisin’s first of the day with Stretz picking up the assist.
“Dos Pueblos did a good job and presented a good game plan,” San Marcos coach Chuckie Roth said. “We were able to play good defense and get through it.”
After the first, the Royals led 4-2 and they never gave up the lead from there.
The dominant defensive effort continued in the second and third quarters, where the Chargers did not find the back of the cage.
“Scoring is not our problem, if our defense is good then we’re really good,” Roth said. “If our defense isn’t so good, then we’re in the mix with a lot of other teams.
“There are a lot of extra efforts (defensively) that don’t go down in statistical columns that a lot of kids made today.”
Raisin’s second goal came on a shot from San Marcos’ own end of the pool following a steal, floating the ball over the Dos Pueblos goalkeeper for a 5-2 lead.
Lucy Haaland-Ford and King added on some insurance goals late in the quarter, including a strong effort by King off a ricochet to collect the ball and toss it into the cage. At the half, the Royals led 7-2.
Raisin made sure there were no thoughts of a potential second-half comeback, scoring two goals in the first two minutes of the third quarter to give her team a commanding 9-2 advantage.
“I’d love to take credit for Charlotte but I don’t know that I can,” Roth said. “Most kids need a foot and a half to get a shot off, she needs a few inches. She’s comfortable in tight proximity and she sees an inch and will take a mile.
“When you surround that with other people, it raises everybody’s game to play a little bit faster, a little more creative and more dynamic.”
Following Haaland-Ford’s second goal of the game, San Marcos was up 10-2 just a few minutes into the second half.
That score held into the fourth quarter, in part due to three straight saves by Royals goalie Serenity Stanfield. She ended with 13 total saves.
The fourth quarter swung in the advantage of Dos Pueblos, as they outscored San Marcos 3-2 in the final seven minutes of play.
Both of the Royals’ goals came courtesy of Naomi Enright while the Chargers had three different scorers get on the board in the fourth.
Abel, Wigo and Addison Parrish all scored to cut into the San Marcos lead and bring the final score to 12-5 when the final buzzer sounded.
Both teams will be back in action next Tuesday when the Royals take on Buena and the Chargers face off against Santa Barbara High.
Santa Barbara 9, Buena 4
The Dons picked up a league victory at home against Buena on Tuesday.
They were powered by a six-goal performance from Layla Szymczak, who also registered a pair of assists in the win.
Rounding out the scoring were Rose Nelley, Stella Gray and Chloe Merrick. Nelley also had an assist, a steal and an exclusion drawn.
In the cage, Nalani Yim collected 12 saves, an assist and a steal.
The Dons will take on Ventura on the road on Wednesday.
Santa Paula 9, Carpinteria 8
The Warriors fell just short of a fourth-quarter comeback against league-rival Santa Paula.
Both teams struggled to find a rhythm offensively early, with Santa Paula holding a slim 2-1 lead at halftime.
The offense began to pick up in the third quarter, but it was Santa Paula who found a bit more success, outscoring Carpinteria 4-2 in the quarter to take a 6-3 advantage into the fourth quarter.
After Santa Paula scored a quick goal, the Warriors began to rally thanks to goals on back-to-back possessions by Giulia Piccoletti.
The Cardinals responded right back to regain some of the lost momentum.
However, Carpinteria continued to apply pressure, scoring two more goals and cutting the deficit down to one goal, but it was too little, too late.
“It was a never-give-up effort by the Warriors, as many teams down four goals tend to do,” Carpinteria coach Jon Otsuki said. “I am extremely proud of their resilient efforts, we just ran out of time.”
To go along with Piccoletti’s two goals, Lilli Nemetz and Caden Lemere each scored three times.
Defensively, goalkeeper Allison Banks had seven saves while Hazel Dugre recorded four steals and three blocks.
The Warriors (8-4, 2-1) will host Fillmore on Thursday.