Tracking progress and improvement from one contest to the next is key for a young team. Such was the case with San Marino High girls’ water polo team when they hosted Mayfield in the third game of the season Nov. 30.
The Cubs proved too much for San Marino, which fell to a 16-3 nonleague defeat, although not all was lost.
“Our offense is better from our last two games,” San Marino coach Mark Barr said. “If you saw them in our first game, where everyone was completely lost, now it’s like, ‘Now I go here and now the ball moves over here.’ Now it is just detail and understanding what direction to drive in, understanding where to clear out. So, it is a process when you have players that are like this young.”
Mayfield, which is unbeaten through three games, won the opening sprint and quickly went on the attack, resulting in a goal just 11 seconds in.
“We love to start fast,” Mayfield coach Katherine Warner said. “Our girls are a pretty fast team, so that is one of our go-to moves, to do a double sprint and score within the first 10 seconds. So that is something we were practicing.”
The Cubs kept going from there, with Margaret Mazurek scoring the next two goals. That was followed by four more goals by Mayfield before the quarter ended with the visitors in control 7-0.
The opening sprint of the second quarter was also won by Mayfield and, once again, provided quick returns as the Cubs used the possession to push the advantage to 8-0 seconds into the period.
San Marino then got on the board with 6:23 to go before the half. Titan Dara Wiebe maneuvered her way through two defenders, got in front of them and fired the ball into the back of the cage from in close on the left side for the hosts’ first goal.
“I’ve been working really hard on my shots and stuff, so that felt really good to be able to pull that off and beat them,” Wiebe said. “There was definitely someone grabbing my back during that shot, so that was a little bit exciting.”
The Cubs answered 27 seconds later and scored one more before the period ended with Mayfield up 10-1.
After allowing just three goals in the second quarter, the San Marino defense limited Mayfield to just two goals in the third period. However, the Titans, who are still searching for their first win after three games played, were shut out in the frame and trailed 12-1 going into the fourth.
The fourth-quarter scoring was opened by Cub Brooke Aloe with a goal with 5:42 remaining. The Titans were next when Wiebe collected the ball in front of the net and unleashed a shot that eluded a Cub defender’s raised arm and found the back of the net at the 5:19 mark.
Mayfield’s Sofia Hesling and then Abigail Longo each scored from close range for a 15-2 lead with four minutes to go. With 11 seconds to play, Titan Kaitlyn Pletting scored from medium range while the hosts had a one-swimmer advantage after an exclusion foul was called on the Cubs. Mayfield squeezed in one final goal after that as Wendy Waite scored from long range as time expired, setting the final margin.
“It was a solid learning experience because the other team was obviously much more established, but it was good for our beginners to actually get some solid competition,” said Wiebe, who is the Titans’ team captain.
Mayfield had 12 different players score. Aloe, Mazurek, Camila De Cardenas and Isabella Rizzi each scored twice. Hesling, Long, Waite, Kayley Bao, Olivia Laguna, Melia Whalen and Rachel Yoon each scored once.
The Titans got two goals from Wiebe and the one from Pletting, which was not a surprise to Barr.
“It is a young team, and so today was just about getting our younger players involved,” Barr said of his Titans. “I have two girls that know what they are doing. Dara and Kaitlyn are the best I have in the water; the two of them got our three goals. So, until we get into league … it’s just getting the other girls confidence [up] and getting them involved.”
First published in the Dec. 7 issue of the San Marino Tribune
