Tokay girls beat Lodi, claim part of TCAL title
In boys’ contest, Flames too hot for Tigers
Tokay has played three Tri-City Athletic League girls water polo games in eight days.
But Wednesday’s meeting against cross-town rival Lodi may have been the sweetest win for the Tigers. That is because it gave them a share of the TCAL title. The Tigers took charge from the beginning to end in a 14-6 win over Lodi at Tokay’s swimming pool.
The win gives Tokay (9-1 in the TCAL, 17-2) a share of the league title with Lincoln (9-1 in the TCAL, 19-3). According to Tokay coach Courtney Porter, who announced over the summer that this is his final season in coaching water polo for nearly a combined 40 years, Lincoln grabs the No. 1 spot and Tokay No. 2 based on point differential. In their Oct. 17 meeting at the Trojans’ pool, Tokay posted a 3-2 win. But in their first league game on Oct. 1, Lincoln recorded an 11-8 win.
“The girls did it,” Porter said. “They did very well tonight. I was very pleased.”
Lodi (6-4 in the TCAL, 14-8) at No. 3. On Friday afternoon, the Sac-Joaquin Section plans to release the playoff brackets for both girls and boys water polo on its website — cifsjs.org. The top three TCAL teams advance into the playoffs.
Going back to Wednesday’s game, Tokay’s Nicole Iturraran scored two of the team’s goals in the first period. That helped the Tigers take a 4-1 lead over the Flames, whose only goal came from Hannah Wilson.
“I thought Lodi was really scrappy, played well,” Porter said. “It was a good game, solid game.”
As the second period got underway, the Tigers’ offensive attack continued with a different player in Lizzy Macfarlane. Part of the team that forced the Flames into missed shots and forced turnovers near the 5 meter line, Macfarlane registered two of her four goals during this time. She scored one each in the first and fourth periods.
“We knew that Lodi is a competitive team,” Macfarlane said. “We really wanted to come out and take care of business. We knew we needed to control the tempo of the game, come out with a lot of intensity.”
Tokay led 7-2 at halftime. Elisa Grim had Lodi’s second goal halfway through the second period.
The third period saw the Flames’ offense heat up. Thanks to communication breakdown on defense by the Tigers, the Flames generated offense behind Grim (three goals in the game), who had two goals, and Wilson (also three goals) who had one.
“Our defense has always been really solid,” Porter said. “Tonight, we had a little bit of miscues like communication. I think the girls adjusted well.”
But the Tigers were on a roll on offense as well. Iturraran (seven goals) scored two more in the period and Sydney Stewart (three goals) had one. That kept Tokay in control at 10-5 entering the final period that led to the win.
Winning the league title is very sweet for Tokay, which hasn’t one a crown in the sport for the girls in a decade.
“To say that we’re first, it’s an incredible performance by them,” Porter said. “A lot of hard work went into it, doing all things that I asked of them. For me, it’s been a big kick, putting in all of these years of coaching.”
Added Macfarlane, “This is a big deal for us. It’s really indescrible. It’s really nice to make our school proud.”
After the defensive battle with Lincoln at the Trojans’ pool opn Oct. 17, Tokay stayed in the race toward the league title with a 15-1 win over St. Mary’s (3-7 in the TCAL) on Monday.
At the net, Lodi was missing goalie Kelsey Siria, who did not play due to injury and illness, according to Flames coach Robert Elrod.
Boys: Lodi 14, Tokay 2
In the first period of Wednesday’s meeting, Lodi held a 4-1 lead. But the Tigers’ defense was solid near the Flames’ net during that time.
Then in the second period, the Flames turned up the heat with their offense, burning the Tigers’ defense from all sides of the pool to score. Alexander Elrod scored his two goals at this time, while teammates Jack LeBaron, John Isola and Matt McKay had one each, scoring from in front of the net to the sides of the pool.
“Tokay came out strong in the first quarter against us,” said Lodi coach Dan Christy. “The boys settled down and started playing. We did a very good job tonight.”
Lodi led 10-2 at halftime. Tokay got its only goals in the first and second periods from Nate Bonham and Cameron Taylor.
In the second half, the Flames continued to smoke past the Tigers’ defense, which also suffered communication breakdowns and assignments in keeping the Flames from taking shots on goal at the center of the pool, less than two meters away.
“We have some new sets on offense that we’ve been working on,” Christy said.
Victor Plunkett scored two goals for Lodi, followed by one each from Eli Kim and Isola.