Garces girls water polo wins D-II title
It took two full quarters and a 5-minute halftime break to see it, but the Garces girls water polo team finally showcased its dominance Saturday afternoon.
The Rams, clinging to a one-goal lead at the intermission, outscored Porterville-Monache 8-2 in the second half and rolled to the Central Section Division II title with a 15-8 victory.
“It’s great,” Garces coach Jason Gall said. “Two years ago we didn’t have a JV team, we barely made it to the playoffs and lost in the first round. Last year we were the No. 5 seed and made it to the semis. And just to see the girls-side of this program grow from barely making the playoffs to winning it this season is just amazing.”
The top-seeded Rams (23-5) started off strong, scoring the first two goals of the match, first on a free throw by freshman Abby Schechter at the 4:45 mark of the first quarter, and then followed by a goal by sophomore Logan Wimbish with 1:12 left in the quarter.
But each time Garces appeared to gain momentum, the Marauders had an answer and trailed just 7-6 at the half.
“We had some nerves in the first half, but then we settled down and started playing better defense,” Gall said. “It was the first time in this game for these girls and we had beaten them twice (earlier this season). Not that we were expecting (it to be easy), we knew they were going to come out hard and make adjustments. But we did a good job settling down(in the second half).”
Following halftime, the Rams took control with an impressive combination of defense, passing, goal-scoring and play by Garces’ junior goalkeeper Ellie Waguespack.
As the Rams started to find the net on offense, Waguespack made several solid saves to turn away any hope Monache had of getting back in the game. She finished with seven saves on the day.
“We just needed to focus more on defense,” Gall said. “I think we were trying too hard offensively in the first half to make things happen. And as a result, got beat on defense a few times. In the second half we made better offensive decisions which allowed us to score more and play better defense.”
Schechter and Wimbush finished with five goals apiece, with each scoring big goals in the fourth quarter to put the match out of reach.
Schechter’s big moment came with 4:44 left when she lofted a shot over the outstretched arms of Marauder goalie Infinity Dignam to build Garces’ lead to 13-7. Three minutes later, Wimbush capped the Rams’ scoring, skipping the ball past Dignam.
“I think we kind of wore them down a little bit I think,” Gall said. “We just kind of chipped away. It was anything we did. We just focused on our defense and the little things.”
Sophomore Isabella Negre added two goals, while junior Isabella Garcia had two of her own for Garces.