Dos Pueblos made it back-to-back perfect seasons in girls water polo Thursday with an 11-5 win at Santa Barbara.
“It’s exciting. It’s always been fun to beat a crosstown rival, but especially Santa Barbara because they’ve always been the best,” said DP junior Alex Hill.
There’s no question who the best is now. The young Dons hung around to start, heading into halftime trailing by only two at 5-3, but the Chargers decided enough was enough and exploded for five in the third period. Kiley Neushul and Tiera Schroeder each finished with three goals and five assists on the afternoon. Makenzy Fowler led the Dons with a pair of goals.
Coach Danelle Little said that the Chargers’ defense was the one thing that left something to be desired. Without injured star Sami Hill in the cage, that defense is under extra pressure. But DP’s nerves were calmed a bit after the weekend’s stellar second-place finish in the SoCal Championships.
“This weekend we played really good defense and realized that we could still do this without Sami. It’s a little more nerve-racking without her, but as long as we pull together and do what we know how to do we’ll be okay,” said Alex Hill.
Nicole Morelos has been given the tough role of interim goalie until Sami Hill returns (they’re hoping to have her back for the playoffs), and had six saves on the day.
The Chargers scored some highlight-reel goals in the second quarter. Neushul took a feed from Amanda Redfern in the middle and no-looked it behind her head to Schroeder to put the Chargers up 4-2 with 2:11 to go in the first half. Just over a minute later Schroeder sent a long-distance assist to Kodi Hill for a one-timer into the net.
“Offensively, especially in that second quarter, we did a really good job,” said Little. “It was the team defense that I feel we really needed to improve.”
Santa Barbara had a couple of great goals as well. Samantha King found herself on a breakaway in front of the goal with 17 seconds left in the first half and fed a nice pass to Elle Ingalls on her left for the score. Camille Wissman launched one from mid-pool midway through the third that looped in and left her with her jaw dropped, wondering how she had done it.
“I thought three of our four quarters we played well today, obviously not the third,” said Dons coach Mark Walsh. “It’s not like they played their bench against us. I was really pleased.”
Schroeder, Kodi Hill, Redfern and Neushul each had three steals for DP.
The playoffs await, with brackets being released on Monday.
DOS PUEBLOS 11, SANTA BARBARA 5
Santa Barbara…1 2 1 1 — 5
Dos Pueblos….2 3 5 1 — 11
Goals — SB: Wissman 1, Ingalls 1, Fowler 2, King 1. DP: Neushul 3, Schroeder 3, JMorelos 2, AHIll 1, KHIll 2. Saves — SB: Brooks 6. DP: NMorelos 6.
Records — DP 22-3, 8-0. SB 11-17, 6-2 Channel League.
