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Water polo continues winning streak with tournament win

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For the second consecutive year, Ramona High’s girls water polo team claimed the championship title of the East County Invitational — this year beating Torrey Pines 7-4 in the final game on Saturday.

In addition, Bulldog Daniela Talento was selected tournament MVP.

“She had three goals, four field blocks, two steals and an assist (in) the championship final,” said head coach Don Williams.

This puts the Ramona water polo players on a seven-game winning streak and improves their record to 9-7.

In league games, they are 2-0 after hosting Classical Academy from Escondido on Jan. 22, easily beating the new team 12-3. This is the first year for the charter school to field a girls varsity team, said Williams.

Because Classical Academy does not have a junior varsity or novice girls water polo team, Williams said he put some of his JV girls in to give them some playing time.

Among the Bulldog girls who scored in the league game were: Ashley Kurtz (2), Serena Lopez, (3) and one each by Kaylin vanTol, Talento, Tatiana Lloyd-Dotta and Katie Szakara. Two JV girls added three goals to the final score.

The girls started last week with two games of the East County Invitational on Jan. 19 at El Capitan High School, shutting out Point Loma 8-0 in their first game.

Williams said they achieved the shutout by focusing on defense, denying Point Loma girls position and forcing them to take bad shots. Sophomore Kelsey Sherman was in the cage and had 12 easy saves, he noted.

Scoring for the Bulldogs were Maddie Schwegler, vanTol and Kurtz with two apiece, and Lopez and Talento, each with one goal. The team as a whole had 12 steals and Schwegler had a couple of field blocks.

That game was followed by a 15-3 defeat of Hilltop High in the afternoon.

“They were a tough bunch of girls,” Williams said of their opponents. “We focused on making defense a priority.”

It paid off. Ramona was up 6-1 after the first quarter, 8-2 at the half, 14-3 after the third, and added one more goal in the fourth.

As a goalie, Sherman had four steals, while her teammates recorded another nine steals. Talento and vanTol each had a field block and three goals.

“It was a pretty good mix of everyone pitching in,” said Williams, who called the first day of the invite a “couple of good, strong games.”

The invite continued on Friday, Jan. 23, against La Jolla Country Day at West Hills High School, with vanTol scoring two goals in the first 1-1/2 minutes. Ramona was up 5-0 after the first quarter.

“The team played good defense, only allowing one goal in the first half,” said Williams.

Ramona started the third quarter up 7-1, added five more goals to pull ahead to a 12-1 lead.

“A healthier Kallen Campa was in goal for the whole game, allowing only two goals while recording seven saves,” said Williams. The final score was 15-2 with vanTol leading the scoring with five goals.

Ramona played Mar Vista in the semifinal game at El Capitan on Saturday morning. With two Bulldog girls taking SAT tests that day, Williams noted the team was down a couple of players. Other players stepped up in their place and Sherman started in the cage in the close match.

Mar Vista opened the scoring with a goal at the 2:14 mark before the half. Ramona answered back with a goal by Schwegler 14 seconds later. Talento scored from long range to give Ramona a 2-1 lead at the half.

“After making some halftime adjustments, Schwegler went on a scoring run, putting in five goals in the third,” said Williams.

They finished the quarter 7-3.

Both teams added two more goals in the fourth — Schwegler and Lloyd-Dotta each had one for Ramona — and the Lady Bulldogs headed to the championship with a 9-5 win.

Ramona started off against Torrey Pines 1-1 in the first with a power play goal from Lopez. The teams remained tied at the half, each adding a goal. In the third, vanTol, Talento and Schwegler put in three goals to the Falcons’ two.

“With Ramona leading by one entering the championship deciding quarter, the team continued their strong defense by stopping three power play opportunities for Torrey Pines and keeping them scoreless, while Talento put in two more to make the final score 7-4,” reported Williams. Ramona’s next match is a league game against Orange Glen on Jan. 29.

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