The Buchanan Bears and Clovis West Golden Eagles girls water polo teams played their second to last game of the regular season on Wednesday in a battle of the second and fourth place teams in the TRAC.
And it was the Golden Eagles who emerged victorious in a defensive battle 10-8.
The second place Golden Eagles, which possess a record of 16-5 overall and 7-2 in the conference, fell behind early on thanks to a coordinated offensive attack by the Bears.
Tylee Torosian, Kelsey McKenney and Aidan Jacobo all poured in goals during the first period as they worked the ball from side to side in order to keep Clovis West goalkeeper Belicia Machicote from settling into a good shot blocking position.
Caroline Radke answered for the Golden Eagles and after one period of play, the Bears held on to a slim 3-1 lead.
The Golden Eagles defense toughened up in the second period, though and held the Bears scoreless all the while scoring two goals of their own.
The Golden Eagles’ Riley Means missed a penalty shot with 2:37 in the period, which would have allowed the team to take a 4-3 lead into halftime. As it stood, the teams were deadlocked at halftime 3-3.
The third period is when the Golden Eagles flexed their offensive muscles.
Clovis West scored the first four goals of the second half, all in a 5 minute span.
The Bears Remi Wessink and Jacobo added two goals, and sandwiched in between was a blistering shot off the post and into the corner of the Buchanan net by Golden Eagles sophomore Sydney Gish.
After three periods, the game still hung in the balance with Clovis West leading 8-5 with seven minutes left in regulation.
Golden Eagles head coach Matt Brooks elaborated on why he thinks his team was able to take control of the game in that third period.
“We just kept executing our game plan,” Brooks said. “We barred a lot of shots in the first half and we just stuck with the game plan and the shots started going in.”
Clovis West knew that it couldn’t let its foot off the gas. Not one week after holding a 6-2 second-half lead against Clovis East, a game that the Golden Eagles eventually lost in overtime.
Golden Eagles freshman and arguably best offensive player Julianne Snyder opened up the scoring in the final period with a soft lob over the head of Bears keeper Daley Kneeland.
The Bears did not go quietly into that good night, though, even down by four with 6:24 left in the game.
McKenney, Torosian and Wessink scored three straight goals for the Golden Eagles in a two-and-a-half minute span to cut the deficit to just one with 1:23 remaining in the contest.
Slamming the door shot for Clovis West was Snyder, as she had done so many times for her team throughout the season.
Snyder broke away from the pack in transition and powered home a goal to give the Golden Eagles a two-goal advantage that it would not relinquish.
With one game left in the regular season, Brooks said he wants to see his team finish strong and continue to exhibit the teamwork that had gotten the team to that point.
“I just want to see them continue to play as a team, executing our game plan and not giving up.”