Water Dawgs end marathon week with 4-3 record

Ramona High School’s girls water polo team won two of five games during the East County Invite tournament.

In addition to the five East County Invite games from Jan. 18-23, Ramona’s matches during the week also included wins over Oceanside and Mira Mesa, giving the Bulldogs a 4-3 record for the week.

“Not bad,” said Ramona coach Donnie Williams. “I’ll take that.”

Ramona started the East County Invite with two games at Santana High School. The first was a 10-8 loss to Patrick Henry.

“They got out on us really good,” Williams said.

The Patriots led 2-0 after the first quarter and 6-1 at halftime, and, although Patrick Henry had rested many of its starters, the Bulldogs were able to reduce the margin to 8-5 by the end of the third period.

“A little bit of a comeback for us,” Williams said. “Closed it up quite a bit. That was a big third quarter for us.”

Ramona was on the other side of fending off comebacks during an 8-6 win over West Hills later that day. The Bulldogs had a 4-1 lead at the end of the first quarter, but the Wolf Pack scored both second-quarter goals to narrow the halftime margin to a single marker. Ramona scored the third period’s only goal to take a 5-3 lead.

“In the fourth quarter both sides were trying to make things happen,” Williams said.

Ramona increased its lead to 8-4 before West Hills scored the final two goals. Angelina Uriostegui led the Bulldogs with three goals during the game while five other players scored once apiece.

“That was a pretty good well-rounded game,” Williams said.

Ramona hosted a Jan. 19 non-league match against Mira Mesa and secured an 8-1 victory.

“They played well,” Williams said.

The Bulldogs led 4-0 after one period, and the second quarter was scoreless. Mira Mesa’s only goal came early in the third quarter.

Ramona goalie Shenoa Wilcox was forced to make only four saves against the Marauders.

“Our defense really kept them from having opportunities,” Williams said. “We made sure that we were playing good press defense.”

Taylor Shinnick led Ramona’s offense with three goals against Mira Mesa. Marley Munoz scored twice while three players had a goal apiece.

The Bulldogs’ only league game during the week was at home Jan. 20 against Oceanside. The 2-1 win was what Williams believes to be the lowest combined score in his Ramona coaching career.

“We had tons of opportunities,” he said. “Their goalie was pretty good.”

Wilcox had four steals along with eight saves.

“Shenoa did a great job,” Williams said.

Sierra Strohson had two steals while shutting down Oceanside’s offensive attack.

“She just played good solid defense,” Williams said. “She did a standout job in that game.”

Although 16 of Ramona’s 18 shots during the game were stopped, including two five-meter penalty shots, Shinnick scored in the first quarter for the half’s only goal. After Uriostegui’s shot was blocked, Munoz captured the rebound and put her own shot into the net. Oceanside’s only goal was in the fourth quarter.

Due to tournament participation, Ramona and Mount Carmel agreed to rescheduled a Jan. 21 league game at Mount Carmel for tomorrow. That gave the Bulldogs a day of practice before a Jan. 22 trip to El Capitan High School to resume East County Invite play against Clairemont.

The Bulldogs opened the scoring against Clairemont, and while the Chieftains scored next to tie the game Ramona held a 3-1 lead after one quarter. The lead increased to 6-1 by halftime, and Ramona finished on the winning side of a 9-3 score. Munoz led the Bulldogs with three goals.

Ramona returned to El Capitan for two Jan. 23 tournament games. Williams missed the day’s first game due to a dental appointment, so junior varsity and novice team coach Danielle Webb coached the Bulldogs. That game against Santa Fe Christian saw the Eagles score the first quarter’s only goal and lead 2-1 at halftime. The Bulldogs scored the third period’s only goal to create a tie entering the fourth quarter, but the Eagles scored twice early in that quarter and once late in the game for a 5-2 victory.

Williams returned for the day’s second game, a 9-1 loss to Point Loma. Ramona scored the game’s first goal but was held scoreless for the remainder of the contest.

The two losses on the final day gave Ramona an eighth-place tournament finish. Williams also noted that the losses to Santa Fe Christian and Point Loma would have CIF Division II playoff seeding implications.

“That hurts,” he said.

Williams believes that the effect of playing seven games in six days left the Bulldog players expended by the final day.

“We’re still a pretty young team,” he said. “At the varsity level we’re not quite as experienced.”

The win over Oceanside evened Ramona’s Valley League record at 3-3 while the results of all seven games gave the Bulldogs a cumulative 8-10 overall mark for the 2009-10 season.