Experience and improvement have been key to the start of the San Marino High girls’ water polo team’s season, and as Rio Hondo League play looms, the group sought one more chance to build on their skills.
That opportunity came against La Salle at home on Dec. 7.
Against the Lancers, the Titans scored their most goals of the season thus far, but La Salle still easily outdistanced the hosts for a 26-6 victory Dec. 7 in nonleague play.
“La Salle is good,” San Marino coach Mark Barr said. “That is obvious. We weren’t going to beat them today, but there were a lot of self-inflicted wounds today. Once we settled down it started to run a little bit better, but we still have a lot of work to do.”
La Salle (2-3 overall) had 10 different scorers. Lancers seniors Cameron Turner and Raquel Sanchez, along with junior River Lee, shared game-high honors with four goals apiece. La Salle junior Grace Kachmarsky and senior Mia Ocampo each scored three, and juniors Annie Liu and Lola Waters, along with sophomore Charlotte Kushnieruk, each scored twice. Rounding out the scoring were freshman Ginger Martinez and junior Matea Cepielik, who each scored once.
“Whether the score is a blowout or not, a game is a game,” La Salle coach Ian Castillo said. “San Marino never stopped driving. They never stopped playing. Whether the score was what it was, if we stopped doing our defense and our game plan they would have kept scoring.”
San Marino (0-5) received one goal from Olivia Deng in the first period, and one in the second and fourth quarters from Dara Wiebe. Senior Kaitlyn Pletting, who was looking to shoot throughout the contest, led the Titans with three goals, all coming in the fourth quarter.
“It is one of my goals this season to try to shoot more and score more,” Pletting said.
The visitors emerged with a 9-1 advantage after the opening frame, but the second quarter was slightly more competitive. La Salle won the opening sprint, but Titan goalkeeper Emily Hui ended the opening possession with a save. The next time down the pool, Wiebe scored on a lob shot from the left side for a goal with 6:21 left before halftime. Moments later, the Lancers earned a 5-meter penalty shot, which Kushnieruk successfully converted with a shot into the left corner of the cage.
The Titan defense then held the Lancer attack at bay for the next 5:05 until La Salle put in three more goals in the final 1:05 of the second. Sanchez scored on a rebound to get the run started. With 39 seconds left, Lee converted a 5-meter shot. Finally, Kachmarsky got the ball, swam nearly the length of the pool and scored with 11 seconds to go to set the halftime margin of 13-2.
The Lancers shut out the hosts in the third period while tallying seven more goals. The final goal of the third came from Cepielik the goalkeeper. She held the ball as the final seconds ticked off before unleashing a shot that traveled the length of the pool and into the net as the horn sounded for a 20-2 cushion going into the fourth quarter.
San Marino opened the scoring in the fourth quarter with 6:08 remaining thanks to a successful 5-meter shot by Pletting that skimmed the underside of the crossbar on its way in. Liu scored next before the Titans scored the next two. The first was another goal by Pletting in transition from medium distance that went into the upper left corner of the cage. Wiebe then scored her second of the contest 36 seconds later. Following that, La Salle poured in the next five goals in a 3:03 span. Pletting finished off the scoring with a goal from long distance with nine seconds remaining.
The opening period saw La Salle score the first eight goals of the game. The first two came from Turner, starting off with a goal on a backhand shot. The senior had three in the period, as did Lee. Deng finally got the hosts on the board with 34 seconds remaining off a rebound of a shot that hit the crossbar. Lee scored from long distance with 14 seconds left to finish the first-period scoring.
The Titans started league play on the road against La Cañada on Dec. 12 and followed that up with a matchup against Temple City on Dec. 14. San Marino will have a break from play before starting up again on Jan. 9 with a league showdown against South Pasadena at home.
“Our league is pretty solid,” Barr said. “There is a big club influence on the other teams, which we don’t have, so we are just looking to get better and see what happens at the end.”
First published in the Dec. 14 issue of the San Marino Tribune
