Water polo matches can be unpredictable, to say the least. Score lines can vary dramatically from match to match.
The Clovis East girls water polo team demonstrated that fact with its 6-3 road victory over Clovis North Wednesday afternoon.
Just minutes after the East boys team lost 11-3, the girls team made sure that the school didn’t walk away empty-handed and they did it with good old-fashioned defense and timely scoring.
The first period was inarguably the least offensive of the match, with only two goals scored combined, both by East, including a blistering shot from Emily Adams to make it 2-0 with 3:33 remaining in the frame.
North had its chances to seize control of the match in the second period, but were denied twice, including a shot by Allison Hepner that struck the goal post before bouncing away harmlessly into the pool and out of bounds.
After East’s Kacy Wicks narrowly missed her target from outside the the five-meter line, Delaney Phillips showed some finesse in her goal scoring ability by gently lobbing a shot over the goalkeeper’s head and into the net to put the Broncos on the scoreboard for the first time with 30 seconds remaining in the first half.
Wicks would make sure she took advantage of her subsequent scoring opportunities as she buried two shots into the corner of the net, both in the third period.
Several of East’s goals came via the counter attack, something that coach Lee Schneider alluded to as a major factor in the success of the Timberwolves offense.
“Our defense led to our counter-attack,” Schneider said. “We were high in the lane, pressing hard and when we get a good steal, we’re taking off from there. That was a key thing for us.”
Phillips netted her second of the contest to cut the deficit to 4-2, but East’s Emma Vertiz answered a minute later to push to lead back to three.
Maddie Bower slinged the sixth and final goal for East with 1:28 left in the final period before Allyn-Ashley Bennett put in North’s third of the day.