TOKAY WATER POLO SWEEPS TRACY
Tiger boys silence bulldogs
Katie McLain scored two goals for the Tokay High girls water polo team in the Tri-City Athletic League opener against Tracy.
But the last one was the most important one for Tokay, the defending TCAL champions, which posted a thrilling 5-4 win over the Bulldogs in sudden death at the Tigers’ swimming pool on Tuesday. The game was tied 4-4 after four periods.
The score remained tied after two overtime periods. According to the National Federation High School rules in water polo, multiple 3-minute sudden death periods are played should the tie persists after two overtime periods.
“It was a very exciting game,” said Shelby Seabaugh, Tokay’s first-year head coach. “The girls were ready and they wanted it.”
There was 1 minute, 56 seconds left in sudden death/overtime when McLain, a junior, took the shot from two meters for the game-winning goal for Tokay (1-0 in the TCAL, 2-3). The offensive possession came courtesy of a turnover forced by the Tigers’ defense.
“It was suppose to be a different play,” Seabaugh said. “It was not a play that we had planned but it will be in our (play) book and we will keep note of it.”
This was McLain’s second goal of the game; she scored the game-tying goal in the fourth period with only 11 seconds left in regulation.
In the fourth period, Tokay and Tracy were locked 3-3. The visiting Bulldogs took a shortlived 4-3 lead at 2:35 left on the clock. Then after trading offensive possessions, McLain scored the game-tying shot after the ball was moved around from Mira Patino, who caught a pass from McLain prior, and Hannah Ortiz.
Hannah Ortiz scored a goal for the Tigers in
the third period. Violet Young and Emily Youngberg each had a goal in the first half.
Seabaugh, who took over for long time coach Courtney Porter of whom had stints at Tokay and Lodi, likes the progress of the Tigers’ defense.
“We’ve got to work on our shooting, and we’ve got to work on our communication a little bit,” Seabaugh said. “We’ve got shooters.”
Tokay had more than a half-dozen shots on goal in the first half. In the second half, Tracy adjusted its defense to slow down the Tigers’ tempo.
Boys: Tokay 15, Tracy 2
In its league opener after the girls’ game, Tokay (1-0 in the TCAL, 3-2) wasted no time in scoring early and often against the Bulldogs.
The Tigers jumped out to a 5-1 lead in the first period. Cylas Riley scored the first of three goals for Tokay. Nathan Larson, who also had two goals in the period, and teammates Madden Westland and Omar Baez each scored one. Larson and Baez each had three in the game as well.
“We moved the ball,” said Tokay head coach Craig Bonham. “I thought we had better ball awareness, and player awareness and it showed. This game we came out a lot faster.”
The Tigers’ defensive attack on the Bulldogs’ offense near their own cage led to many Tracy turnovers. That led to Tokay going on a scoring frenzy.
In the second period, Riley, along with Baez and Westland each scored another goal. That led to Tokay holding an extremely comfortable 8-1 lead at halftime.
Three goals within three minutes of the third period gave Tokay an 11-1 advantage over the Bulldogs. Ryan Means scored twice and Baez recorded his third goal in the final five minutes of the period that built the Tigers’ advantage to 14-2.
Larson scored the Tigers’ last goal at 1:49 remaining on the clock in the final period, which used a running clock that stopped only for goals and time outs, for the final score. The shot clock continued to run for possession of the ball.