The Carpinteria High School girls participated in a water polo tournament in Oxnard, facing a rematch with Thousand Oaks on the first day, eventually dropping the match by a score of 9-5.
“We started out the gates with errant passes which led to turnovers which led to counter attacks. Our offense failed to recognize when the turnovers occurred or a shot was taken, their person was already four strokes ahead going the other way,” Coach Jon Otsuki told the News-Press in an email.
The score was 4-1 in favor of Thousand Oaks at the end of the first quarter and 6-4 at the end of the second quarter.
“Early into the 3rd quarter we brought the game to a 6-5 contest with Piper Clayton scoring on a penalty shot. Unfortunately, that was as close as we got, as we missed on a couple of opportunities, a blocked five-meter shot and a missed … chance. TO turned the missed 5-meter into a goal on their next possession, putting the game out of reach at 8-5 with 2:17 left to play,” said Coach Otsuki.
Clayton scored three goals to lead the way for Carpinteria. Briana Rodriguez and Jocelyn Pena each scored one goal. Junior goalie Erin Otsuki recorded 11 saves.
“As frustrating as it was, the Warriors turned things around 50 minutes later to face the #1 seed of the tournament. The Lady Warriors played well. A lot of the players gained confidence against a highly ranked team. We did lose but the score was respectable at 6-13,” said Coach Otsuki.
Missing the defensive assignment, the warriors started on the wrong end of a 4-1 score. In the second quarter they fell further behind at 8-2. The second half of the game was similar to the second quarter of the first game, scoring 4 goals to Notre Dames 5.
“Piper Clayton had a phenomenal game at both ends of the pool and played the entire game,” said Coach Otsuki.
Clayton and Rodriguez scored two points each. Natalia Perez and Lilli Nemetz scored one each.
“Goalie Erin Otsuki came up with several huge blocks on counter attacks as well on 5 v 6s to keep the game from going to a landslide score. She recorded 10 blocked shots,” said Coach Otsuki.
– Katherine Zehnder
