Soaring Eagles

Bryce Alderton

One way to answer a pummeling lesson is to dominate the next

opponent.

Estancia High’s girls water polo team (1-0) ripped through Bolsa

Grande in an opening nonleague game at Estancia High Friday, coming

away with a 15-2 victory.

Just last week the Eagles were “handled” by Tesoro in a scrimmage,

so second-year coach Bob Bandaruk was pleased with the way his team

responded Friday.

“We did very well,” Bandaruk said. “We outswam them. Our girls

were better swimmers.”

Counterattacks quickly led to Eagle goals in the first half.

Junior Marilyn Reich and senior Lihini Keenawinna provided a 1-2

scoring punch, netting five and two goals, respectively, for the

victors.

Both Reich and Keenawinna each stole the ball before a Bolsa

player could get to the attacking zone and passed to one another for

goals twice in the first quarter.

Bolsa Grande cut the deficit to 2-1 with 4:09 remaining in the

first quarter before the Eagles scored 10 straight goals through

three periods.

Chelsea Kaplan scored her goal after she stole the ball from a

Matador in the middle of the pool and drove to about two meters

before firing the ball into the upper-right corner of the net. Kaplan

tallied three first-half steals.

Britta Pitti and Jessica Fernandez also pressured the Matadors,

leading to Eagle counterattacks. Each scored one goal.

Andrea Bray and Courtney Hess each scored two goals while Katie

Mahan rounded out Estancia scoring with one goal.

Eagle goalkeeper Laura Morton made 10 saves.

Reich, Pitti and Morton are returning varsity players on a team

Bandaruk hopes will become more patient as the season progresses.

“We weren’t faking any shots,” Bandaruk said. “The girls were

excited because they were getting open shots and rightfully so, but

they were shooting right at (the goalie).”

The Eagles also got some help -- from the opponents.

A Bolsa Grande player, attempting to toss the ball back to the

goalie from three meters out mistakenly threw the ball over the

keeper’s head to give Estancia a 1-0 lead just 20 seconds into the

game.

NONLEAGUE

Estancia 15, Bolsa Grande 2

Score by Quarters

Bolsa Grande 1 0 0

1 -- 2

Estancia 6 3 3

3 -- 15

Bolsa Grande -- Strube 2. Saves -- Brodowski

17.

Estancia -- Reich 5, Bray 2, Keenawinna 2, Kaplan 1,

Pitti 1, Hess 2, Mahan 1, Fernandez 1. Saves -- Morton 10.