IN SPORTS: LODI GIRLS ADVANCE IN PLAYOFFS
For the second time in two months, the Lodi High girls water polo team faced Bear Creek’s squad.
Their second meeting was at Tokay’s swimming pool in a Sac-Joaquin Section Division I playoff game on Wednesday. This contest included plenty of shots on goal by Lodi’s Jackie Westerterp and Bear Creek’s Natalie Johnston. In the end, No. 7 Lodi swam to an 11-6 win over No. 10 Bear Creek.
On Friday, Lodi (16-10), which took second place in the Tri-City Athletic League behind co-champions Tokay and Lincoln, will play at No. 2 Woodcreek of Roseville. The Timberwolves had the first round bye.
The first four minutes of the first period had Lodi and Bear Creek positioning themselves on the offensive side. Then Westerterp and Flames teammate Hannah Wilson wasted little time to get their team on the scoreboard, with back-to-back goals within 20 seconds of each other at 3:02 and 2:42 for a 2-0 lead.
“We have a good player in the center,” said Lodi coach Robert Elrod of Westerterp, a senior. “Whether it would be Elisa (Grim) or Jackie or whomever else on the ball.”
Grim made it 3-0 at 4:11 in the second period, taking a pass from Brooklynn Shull and firing the ball in front of the net and past Bruin goalie Alex Bussey. Bear Creek (6-8) responded 23 seconds later when Amanda Perez swam into the center of the pool near the Flames’ net and took her shot to cut the Flames’ lead to 3-1.
“She’s one of our biggest shooters,” said Westerterp of Grim who was met often with double-team matchups. “Defenders drop on us. We tell (teammates) to either slide to get open or lead your defender away so that we can get the ball straight in.”
But the Flames heated up behind Westerterp, who scored back-to-back goals, one of which came off the Flames’ defense forcing a Bruin turnover. That gave Lodi a 5-1 lead.
“I could just feel where my person is, who’s guarding me” Westerterp said. “You kind of just know when you have that shot. If somebody’s on your back, you turn them, which I do. I get (into) position, get up, get high and take the shot.”
Both Bear Creek and Lodi had a goal each toward the end of the second period that led to a Lodi 6-2 halftime lead. Taking an awkward shot from the side of the pool, Johnston threw the ball that sailed into the corner of the net for a 5-2 score. Westerterp countered on the Flames’ next offensive drive, taking a shot dead center of the Bruins’ net again to make it 6-2.
Westerterp, who had seven goals in the game, continued to fire the ball almost at will in the second half. She recorded two goals at the 6:15 and 4:34 times in the third period. But in between her shots, Johnston fired two goals and Perez one during a three minute stretch. Lodi, however, continued to lead with an 8-5 score.
The fourth period was all Lodi. Westerterp scored two more goals, including the final one at 1:45 left in the game for an 11-6 score and Wilson, coming off a pass from Elizabeth Decko. Johnston recorded the Bruins’ final goal with 29 seconds left in the game.
“We’re just going to keep getting stronger,” Westerterp said.
Lodi goalie Kelsey Siria had four saves in the contest.
“She continues to make the adjustments on the next shots,” said Elrod of Siria, also a senior. “Which is huge.
In their first meeting in a non-league game on Sept. 6, Lodi posted a 14-5 victory over Bear Creek at the Bruins’ pool. The game had a different feel than Wednesday’s playoff contest.
“It was the first time we were playing with the girls who had made varsity,” Elrod said. “Trying to figure out how those players fit in together in game situations.”
Westerterp added, “We were trying to bond. Both teams have gotten a lot better.”