San Marcos girls water polo got out to a fast start and never looked back, cruising to a 14-4 victory over crosstown rival Santa Barbara High in the Channel League opener on Thursday at San Marcos’ pool deck.
The Royals are now off to a stellar 12-1 start to the season while the Dons continue to see improvement as league action begins.
“I think we have a lot of potential to do some special things,” San Marcos coach Chuckie Roth said. “I’m more about the process of getting great than the end result so right now we’re just trying to focus on the little things we need to do because little things lead to big things.”
Charlotte Raisin got the scoring started before most fans could find their seats, finding the back of the cage off an assist by Bethany King just 21 seconds into the game for a 1-0 lead.
Santa Barbara’s Layla Szymczak responded about a minute later with a goal of her own to knot things up at 1-1.
However, the rest of the first quarter was dominated by the Royals as they ripped off five unanswered goals to take a 6-1 lead into the second.
Of those five goals, Raisin scored two more while Kate Meyer, Marina Brown and Makenna Stretz added one apiece. On those goals, Reese Danhauer, Brown and Stretz each recorded assists.
“The goal was to stay really positive throughout the game,” Dons coach Mark Walsh said. “[San Marcos] can make things difficult for you and we didn’t respond great to it in the beginning.
“We started getting on each other a little bit, which is the number one thing we didn’t want to do, but I was really impressed with how they turned that around for the rest of the game.”
Santa Barbara did find more success defensively in the second quarter, holding its rival to just two goals. However, the Dons couldn’t get anything going on the offensive end.
“We play good defense, I think we have three or four girls that can defend center at any given time and that really helps us feel comfortable defensively,” Roth said. “Offense kind of takes care of itself sometimes but they are a gritty group that wants to be good.”
For the Royals, Raisin scored her fourth goal of the matchup midway through the second on a lofted shot over the Dons goalie while Sophie Yonker’s score off an assist by Danhauer gave her team an 8-1 lead heading into halftime.
“Charlotte does a really good job, she’s a very dominant offensive player while also doing a good job on defense,” Roth said of his leading scorer. “She is a competitor in her core, so she likes to find ways to get things done.
“Hats off to the other girls for getting her the ball a lot, we do a good job at balancing that out.”
San Marcos’ strong play continued into the third period, with Lucy Haaland-Ford netting a pair of floater goals to begin the half. Both goals were assisted by Stretz to take a 10-1 lead.
The Dons then picked up their second goal of the game thanks to a strong outside shot by Addie Sweeney.
The Royals then took the momentum right back with two more goals before the end of the quarter by Brown and Lily Bordofski. Bordofski assisted Brown’s goal while Naomi Enright served it into Bordofski.
At the end of three quarters, San Marcos held a commanding 12-2 lead.
“They’re all friends and they want to do well against each other but unfortunately we just don’t have the horses that [San Marcos] does to keep up and that can be frustrating for some of our stronger girls that want to do well,” Walsh said.
The fourth quarter was an even one, with both sides netting two goals apiece.
The Royals scored the first two of the quarter as Shea Estabrook converted a penalty shot and Scarlet Akin scored a tough inside goal.
Sweeney then scored her second goal of the game for the Dons and Stella Gray rounded out the scoring to bring the game to the final score of 14-4.
“I’m really proud of them, they kept playing until the very end,” Walsh said of his squad. “When we have everybody, we’re obviously not at the top of Division 1 but we have a good team and we’re excited to play some other teams in our league.
“I think we’re going to have a successful season. We have eight seniors who are really passionate and team-oriented and I think they’re going to lead us to a great season.”
As for the Royals, the win was their first step in repeating as Channel League champions after rattling off an undefeated season against league opponents last year.
“We have a lot of ability, but there are a lot of other teams out there that have that ability,” Roth said. “It’s all about learning how to play to our strengths and playing together, and when we learn how to play together I think we’re really good.”
San Marcos will take on Foothill on Saturday at Santa Barbara High at 10 a.m. Meanwhile, the Dons will be off for the break and resume against Camarillo on Jan. 9.
Dos Pueblos 10, Buena 3
The Chargers shook off a slow start and picked up a 10-3 win over the Bulldogs to open league play.
After ending the first quarter tied 2-2, Dos Pueblos jumped out to a 7-3 lead in the second quarter and cruised to the win from there.
Hana Abel led the team with six goals and a pair of ejections drawn while Deverauex Wigo scored a pair.
Meanwhile, Addison Parrish and Franki Court rounded out the scoring with a goal apiece.
Defensively, Megan Garner had a great performance with nine saves.
