San Marcos goalie Travis Johnson contained them, but the Royals couldn’t stop them as the Santa Barbara Dons boys water polo team defended its home pool in a 12-3 Channel League victory.
The Dons had a quartet of two-goal scorers in Nick Sklar, Mark Davis, Ken Myers and Brandon Cowan that helped improve No. 4 Santa Barbara to 14-4 overall and 3-0 in Channel League.
Johnson made 16 saves, many of them in one-on-one situations, and helped the Royals’ (8-14, 0-3) defense keep the match close, especially in the first quarter.
“Travis had an incredible game,” said San Marcos coach Jeff Ashton, who commended his entire defense on stepping up after Tuesday’s loss to DP in which 19 goals were allowed. “We were closing out and getting our hands up. We played probably the best game of the year.”
Santa Barbara coach Mark Walsh agreed, saying that his players were slow to get going early and that Johnson may have been part of the problem.
At the end of the first quarter, the Dons held a slim 2-0 advantage.
“They thought they could show up and automatically score nine goals in the first quarter like DP,” said Walsh, bothered more by the over-confidence than the lack of execution.
“He’s a class-act,” said Ashton of his counterpart for not taking anything for granted.
Walsh pulled his seniors in the second half to get some others in the pool. Myers responded with two drawn-ejections to go his two scores. Sophomore Davis’ two goals were his first for the varsity.
San Marcos got two goals from Mac Gostow and one from Sam Boysel.
Asked whether his team was looking ahead to Tuesday’s showdown with Dos Pueblos in that first quarter, Walsh replied, “Once you hit the water it doesn’t matter who you’re playing against.”
But now that San Marcos is out of the way, Dos Pueblos sits next on the Dons’ schedule.
“We’re not looking to playoffs yet. Right now our focus is on our next game, and that’s DP,” Walsh said of his team, which still hasn’t finished out the first round of league play until Tuesday’s tilt.
“It’s pretty much our only focus.”
SANTA BARBARA 12, SAN MARCOS 3
San Marcos 0 1 2 0 — 3
Santa Barbara 2 5 1 4 — 12
Goals— SM: Gostow 2, Boysel 1. SB: N. Sklar 2, Cowan 2, M. Davis 2, Myers 2, Gamble, McElroy, P. Davis, Fesembeck. Saves — SM: Johnson, 16. SB: Stilwell, 5, Ploch. 3
