Water polo ends season-opening tourney with two wins
Ramona High School’s girls water polo team opened its 2009-10 season with the Benson Tournament in Orange County, losing their first three matches but winning their final two games of the Dec. 3-5 tournament.
“The girls understand where they’re at,” said Ramona coach Donnie Williams. “We have a lot of inexperience on the team.”
Taylor Shinnick is the only returning varsity starter. Seven Bulldog players scored their first varsity goals during the tournament.
“It’s a process,” Williams said. “They learned a lot about themselves.”
Ramona opened the tournament opened Dec. 3 at Valencia High School with a game against Mira Costa High School of Huntington Beach and took a 17-2 loss. Shelby Wilson scored both goals, which were also her first two varsity tallies.
Ramona’s two Dec. 4 games were also at Valencia High School. The first was an 11-2 loss against the host school. Emily Rajcic’s first varsity goal was against Valencia while Shinnick also scored.
Ramona’s other loss that day was to the Long Beach Wilson High School junior varsity team. The Bulldogs were outscored 10-5 but more than doubled their previous goals during the season.
“We actually had a ton of shots in that game,” Williams said.
Shinnick scored three goals, Brianna Hogervorst had her first varsity goal, and Angelina Uriostegui also scored.
The two Dec. 5 games were at Fullerton High School. Ramona’s 16-2 win over Hoover High School of Glendale saw the Bulldogs lead 6-0 in the first period. Laura Jones followed her first varsity goal with two others, Amanda Carasiti had her first and second varsity goals, and initial varsity tallies were also achieved by Rebecca Van Tol and Marley Munoz. Shenoa Wilcox earned her first varsity win as a goalkeeper.
Ramona closed out the tournament with a 9-2 win over Brea-Olinda. Shinnick had four assists, three steals, and two goals. Kayla Lawlor had two steals in the final game.
“We have to make a lot of mistakes to make ourselves better,” Williams said.