IN SPORTS: TOKAY WATER POLO SWEEPS WEST
Tokay boys, girls sweep Wolf Pack
The Tokay High girls water polo team made certain it stayed in the playoff hunt with Thursday’s 10-2 victory over visiting West, led by five goals from hole set Nicole Iturraran.
The Tigers’ defense, meanwhile, clamped down on the Wolf Pack, allowing six shots, two of which were on target.
“What we do is we overplay, so we’re just on them really heavy and in front so that even if they get the ball, it’s easy for us to turn around and get it back,” said Raegan Hauschildt, one of five seniors who were honored before the game. “And we just wanted to press hard, because we were pretty confident going into this game. Yeah, just press hard, play normal, and try to be aggressive offensively too.”
The Tigers were very aggressive, but were also inaccurate in the first quarter, with five straight shots bouncing off the bar following the first goal. The shots started finding the target later in the quarter, and Tokay finished with a 3-0 lead, with all three goals from Iturraran.
West’s Cierra Davenport got the Wolf Pack on the board early in the second quarter, but it was all Tokay after that. The Tigers went into halftime with an 8-1 lead.
Tokay still has a chance at a playoff berth — the Tri-City Athletic League sends three teams to the playoffs, and Lodi holds that third spot. The two cross-town rivals play on Tuesday.
“That’s really big. If we beat them, then we get to move on, which we haven’t been able to do in a long time,” Hauschildt said. “And it’s our rival, too. We beat them already, so losing now wouldn’t be as redeeming. We kind of want to beat them twice to finish it.”
Hannah Ortiz finished with three goals for Tokay, and Katie McLain and Sydney Stewart had one each.
With a previous meeting between the Tokay and West water polo teams ending in a 1312 Tokay victory, Thursday’s 10-4 Tokay victory was a revelation on how far the Tigers have come.
“It’s night and day,” Tokay coach Chris Boss said about the difference between now and when the team began play. “You saw it today — constant movement, playing for each other, making sure the ball was getting to guys. At the beginning of the season, it was catch and shoot. One pass, one shot. I don’t see that anymore, and that to me, I love it.”
While the number of shots taken was fairly even in the first half — Tokay’s 14 to West’s 11 — the type of shots were vastly different. Tokay was able to control the middle and take high-percentage shots, while shutting down anything close to the cage on the other end of the pool. Tokay led 6-2 at halftime. “We are glad and happy that this was our first game where we dominated the pool,” said Balazs “Bendy” Bendeguz, an exchange student from water polo-crazy Slovakia. “Lots of passes, lots of movement. It was a great game.”
Teammate Connor Means felt that the team has played more complete games, but couldn’t argue with the score.
“We played real well against Lincoln last week, although we didn’t have the score to show it,” Means said. “I felt we played more competitive and stronger defense. I think the score we had today is a big improvement from only winning by one our last game. We definitely worked the ball around and got some players in that don’t usually take shots.”
Means led the Tigers with five goals, along with one each from Bendeguz, Julio Marguia, Ethan Soldati, Dallas McCartle and Hunter Mayo. Herbie Delacruz led West with
two goals.
The Wolf Pack struck first, with Ryan Ma scoring while under pressure. Means struck back less than a minute later off a Marguia pass into the middle, and Bendeguz gave Tokay the lead for good with a spin move out of pressure followed by a lob over the goalkeeper.
At this point, Tokay is on the outside looking in at the playoff chase, with a tough Lodi squad holding onto third in the TCAL standings.
“It’s definitely something we hope for, but at this late part of the season, I think it’s more we’re playing for pride,” Boss said. “And that’s definitely something. I’m proud of the guys.”