Girls water polo opens season with 2-3 tournament performance

By Joe Naiman

Ramona High School’s girls water polo team opened its 2013-14 season with two wins and three losses in the Dec. 5-7 Benson Tournament played in Orange County.

“I thought it was a good tournament for us,” said coach Donnie Williams. “I’m happy with it.”

Ramona’s Dec. 5 and 6 matches were played at Valencia High School in Fullerton. The Bulldogs’ Dec. 7 contests were at Esperanza High School in Yorba Linda.

Valencia was Ramona’s opponent in the Bulldogs’ tournament opener Dec. 5. Ramona prevailed by a 16-4 margin.

“That was a pretty good start,” Williams said.

Cassie Bernas led the Bulldogs with five goals against Valencia. Jocelyn Schwegler placed three shots into the net. Paulina Bernd, Tatiana Lloyd-Dotta, and Holly Smith each scored twice. Ashlee Holabird and Serena Lopez each scored their first varsity goal.

Ramona goalkeeper Morgan Wallace made eight saves against Valencia. Bernd had five steals and Bernas added four steals. Josie Ward contributed a field block.

The Bulldogs’ second Dec. 5 game was a 17-6 loss to Yorba Linda.

“We started out sluggish,” Williams said. “I thought we played a little bit light.”

Yorba Linda scored the game’s first three goals and led 5-1 after one period and 7-3 at halftime. Ramona’s goals included Daniella Talento’s first varsity score.

Ramona’s only Dec. 6 game was against Cerritos, who scored the game’s first three goals and had a 7-2 lead after the first quarter. Six of those goals were scored by one player.

“We were struggling to try to make sure that person was covered,” Williams said.

The score was 8-4 at halftime, and the Bulldogs narrowed the deficit to 10-8 by the end of the third quarter. The game was tied at 10-10 with four minutes left in the fourth period. Cerritos took an 11-10 lead before Bernas scored to tie the game once again. Cerritos scored the 12-11 game’s final goal on a power play with 10 seconds remaining.

Bernas had seven goals against Cerritos while Kaylin vanTol scored her first varsity goal.

Mira Costa High School was Ramona’s first Dec. 7 opponent as well as the winner of that 14-3 game. The team stayed at the Embassy Suites in Brea, and about 4:50 a.m. the fire alarm went off, forcing the team out of the building for approximately an hour.

The Bulldogs were more alert for the day’s second game, which was the first ever between Ramona and Anaheim’s Segerstrom High School. The score was 3-3 after the first period.

“Then we started doing a little bit better on the counterattacks,” said Williams.

Ramona had an 11-5 halftime lead and a 13-7 cushion after the third quarter. The final score was 15-4.

“The tournament was good,” Williams said. “We were working some things out together.”

The Bulldogs have a road game Thursday at Carlsbad.