Eight man-down situations and the presence of a two-meter man built like a middle linebacker proved too much for Cate’s water polo team to overcome in Thursday’s 15-6 home loss to Pacifica.
All-Pacific League second-teamer Cameron Neely put away six goals for the visiting Tritons while the Rams got a hat trick from senior captain Brett Diemer and two goals from fellow captain Conrad Kurth. Cate had previously lost to Pacifica 22-9.
“We didn’t play the defense we were supposed to run. (Neely) was giving us a hard time, he’s pretty good,” said Diemer.
Cate tried to stay aggressive against the bigger Tritons and wound up with eight ejections, most of which the Tritons converted on.
Cate captain Conrad Kurth makes a pass in the afternoon shadows.
“The gameplan was to run a drop-and-set, and when we’re executing it works really well on a guy like him. We wanted to stay on him the whole time,” said coach Nathan Alldredge. “We weren’t disciplined enough in that today, and it led to him either getting an ejection or scoring.”
The Rams (3-7) are still in the hunt for an at-large playoff bid out of the Pacific View League.
“We just need to stay positive and not let ourselves down. We’ve got a good coach and he knows exactly what we need to do. We need to listen to him and we can beat anybody,” said Diemer.
The hosts trailed just 5-3 with under four minutes to go in the first half, but the Tritons drew three ejections over the final 2:36 and combined on two of them to take a 7-3 lead into the half. Sophomore goalie Blake Mackall made a nice save at the buzzer.
The game was put away when Pacifica outscored Cate in the third quarter 7-2, but Diemer buried a highlight-reel shot from the other end of the pool in the final moments to make it 14-5.
The Rams host Channel Islands on Friday afternoon.
PACIFICA 15, CATE 6
Pacifica…4 3 7 1 — 15
Cate…1 2 2 1 — 6
Goals — P: Neely 6, Thierry 4, Pablo P. 3, Thierry 1, Beaton 1. C: Diemer 3, Kurth 2, Bennett 1.
