Spartans crush Warriors
SHS moves on to face PHS Saturday
Winning is always great, but when it’s a 20-point blowout over a lower-seeded team in the opening round of Valley playoffs it doesn’t help a team prepare for their next, tougher opponent.
And for sixth-seeded Strathmore (20-6, 9-1 ESL), that was their biggest takeaway from Wednesday’s 22-2 win at home over 11th-seeded Fresno (6-7) in the first round of the CIF Central Section Division II Girls Water Polo Championship. The Spartans face the third-seeded Panthers of Porterville (20-7, 7-1 EYL) on Saturday. Strathmore is 0-2 against Porterville this season with losses by 10 and 15 goals.
“We got Porterville Saturday,” SHS head coach Monty Newkirk said. “It wasn’t a test, practice, game or anything...porterville’s going to put the hurt to us.”
One thing the Spartans could take away from the lopsided game was that the entire team received playing time and in a way, it did prepare them for a playoff mindset.
“I thought it went really good,” senior captain Madison Bower said. “We had a lot of team chemistry, we worked well together [but] it wasn’t that hard of a game. But I think that’s good for us to kind of like get in the mood of playoffs. We’re going to take this seriously, we’re going to press. I think it was a good practice run.”
Bower and senior Sam Dieterle led the team in scoring with six goals apiece. In the first quarter Strathmore took an 8-0 lead after Bower and Dieterle scored three goals apiece and Alec Huth contributed two of her three goals for the night. Bower also recorded five assists and three steals while Dieterle had four steals and three assists.
“I thought I did good,” Bower said. “You know you kind of jump in and you’re like ‘Yeah, let’s do this!’ then you realize, ‘I need to be there for my team.’ I think it’s important for a captain to understand team chemistry and realize when to start letting other people score and work the ball.”
Down 11-0 with less then 3 minutes left in the first half, Fresno finally scored near the two-minute mark. The Warriors’ final score was at the 40-second mark in the third quarter to cut the Spartans lead to 17-2.
Junior goalie junior Felicity Wynn had six saves and senior Aimee Alarcon finished with four goals, one steal and one assist for Strathmore. Sophomore Sidney Hartsell had two goals, two steals and one assist. Freshman Paulina Cemo and Hannah Hartsell had one goal apiece and Cemo also tallied one assist and one steal. Freshman Ellie Carr and senior Tisha Tolentino each had one assist. Junior Kallysta Cox had two steals and senior Victoria Burrough had one. Junior senior Victoria Burrough
The East Sequoia League champion Spar- tans know the East Yosemite League champion Panthers well and Newkirk said he'll be trying out some different things using Bower and Dieterle while making sure the other players are back and ready to play defense. For her part, Bower is ready and confident when it comes to facing the Panthers one last time.
“I love Porterville, they're great girls, but I think that we have the potential to be a challenge to them,” she said. “I think our problem is that we get intimidated. Both of us played [Div. I] Bullard [at the Buchanan tournament]. They lost to them by three, we lost to them by two. So there's a chance of us, giving them a run for their money. We just have to be mentally prepared for it.”
Senior Salvador Ibarra finished with two goals and one steal. Junior Emiliano Mendoza and sophomore Tommy Ensaldo each had one goal, while Ensaldo also had two assists. Senior goalie Stepthen Land had 14 saves and one assist. Senior Jose Miguel Lopez Arroyo led the team with six steals and senior Gary Hanson had three.