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Saturday, Nov. 07, 2009

Los Banos, Merced fall in water polo playoffs

MODESTO -- Mallory Howard fell into the arms of a loved one, red-faced and brokenhearted.

John Wallace walked slowly from his bench, bag slung over his shoulder, searching for the positives in a deflating loss.

The dream season for the Los Banos girls water polo team came to a fast finish in the first round of the Sac-Joaquin Section Division I playoffs on Friday morning.

Los Banos outscored Tokay in the final 21 minutes, but couldn't overcome a nightmare first period in a 6-4 loss at Johansen High.

Jessica Witt scored three goals and Kara Orr had a goal and an assist for Los Banos (18-6), which lost for the second time in less than a month to Tokay.

"I don't regret anything," said Wallace, who guided Los Banos to an undefeated Central California Conference season in just his second season as coach.

"Yeah, I'm disappointed about how we came out in the first quarter. But the way we played in the final three quarters overshadowed that.

"I'm proud of that, and I'm proud of the kind of season we had."

Tokay beat Los Banos at its own game, dictating the flow and pace from the opening whistle.

Taitum Herrington banged a shot off the crossbar in the first minute, setting the tone for Tokay's opening assault.

Herrington would find the back of the net 30 seconds later with a quick shot past Los Banos goalie Victoria Vander Poel.

Jenna Tuitavuki, Anna Price and Chara Mahoney would stretch Tokay's lead to four with three goals in a 1-minute, 21-second span.

Melissa Moreno scored early in the second period as Los Banos quickly found itself in a 5-0 rut.

Los Banos looked lost, throwing passes away and committing silly penalties.

It didn't attempt a shot on goal until there was 33 ticks left in the first period.

"That wasn't us. In league, we were the team that came out and got up early in the first," said Howard, who was stymied by double teams throughout the match and finished without a point.

"That's what they did to us. We came out timid."

Wallace chalks the slow start up to confidence and playoff experience.

"If we can't dictate the game from the start, it takes us awhile to get into our groove," Wallace said. "Finally, I had to say to the girls, 'Don't give up, you can get back into the this game.' "

And Los Banos did, clawing to within two late in the third period.

Witt scored her third goal from about 10 meters away, rifling a shot past Tokay goalie Chacha Murisaki to make it 5-3 with 3.2 seconds left in the third quarter.

"She's got an arm," Howard said of Witt. "Skippy's a stud."

Howard opened the fourth with a shot off the framework, but Los Banos couldn't sustain the pressure.

Tokay stretched its lead back to three, 6-3, with 4:40 remaining, and then milked the clock with slow, drawn-out possessions.

Orr scored on an assist from Witt with less than a minute left in the game.

"We're going to walk out of here with our heads held high," Witt said.

St. Mary's 7, Merced 4

St. Mary's outscored Merced 4-0 in the second quarter to open up a 6-1 lead and held on for the win.

Bailey McCabe led Merced (19-10) with three goals. Paige Rasmussen added seven assists and goalie Erika Jones turned away eight shots.

"We had opportunities," Merced coach Jon Dibblee said. "We had a little trouble getting the ball into 2-meters and had issues controlling the ball. So a couple turnovers hurt us.

"We only had 13 turnovers, which isn't the worst stat in the world, but they came at inopportune times."