The Palo Alto girls’ water polo team (14-10) defeated visiting Salinas High School, 15-5, in the first round of the Central Coast Section Championship tournament on Wednesday, Nov. 11 at home.
Led by sophomore Skylar Dorosin’s five goals, the Vikings took an early lead and never looked back. Behind a strong defense that forced steals and limited Salinas to only two goals in the first half, Palo Alto’s quick counter attack sparked the offense. Directed by senior goalie June Afshar’s deep passes, Palo Alto scored several one-touch goals.
Head coach Cory Olcott was pleased with his team’s performance.
“The team played very well overall,” Olcott said. “We talked beforehand about containing their two top players with lots of help and good pressure. We also felt that we could use our speed to counter them. The team executed perfectly on this strategy; Salinas scored no goals in the first and only two in the half while we were able to convert several counter attacks.”
Senior Malaika Drebin kicked off Paly’s scoring with a counter attack goal early in the first quarter. The Vikings struck again when Dorosin beat her defender on the counter attack. This started the Viking offense as Dorosin proceeded to draw an ejection and convert the man] advantage on the next possession, thanks to patient passing around the perimeter. Junior Haley Conner tossed in a goal from the outside and Dorosin capped the first quarter with a score from hole set, making it 5-0. The Vikings’ press defense frustrated Salinas and junior Anna Glaves stole numerous passes to the hole set, leading into Paly’s counter attack.
Salinas struck first in the second quarter after it earned a kickout and then a penalty shot when a Paly player argued the call with the referee. After converting the penalty, Salinas scored again with a cross cage lob shot from deep that beat Afshar. However, that was the end of Salinas’s scoring in the first half. The Vikings then retaliated with a four-goal outburst. Dorosin scored with an outside shot off the counter attack and junior Rachel Harrus finessed a lob over the charging Salinas goalie. Senior Shameem Jamil made a quick move to avoid two defenders and scored, one on one with the goalie. Drebin added one final goal of her own from the outside to make the score, 9-2 at half.
Paly started off the second half strong as Harrus drew a five-meter penalty and Conner finished with a shot to the low right corner. Sophomore Shannon Scheel also drew a penalty shot that freshman Martine LeClerc scored. Salinas received numerous power play opportunities but could not convert, although the team did tally two goals off perimeter shots making the score, 11-4.
With the game decided by the start of the fourth quarter, the Vikings did not let up. Dorosin scored off the sprint with a shot that rebounded off the bar and Jamil tallied a counter attack goal. Senior Allie Shorin finished Palo Alto’s strong offensive performance with a cross-cage sweep shot from the post. Salinas scored once more to make the final, 15-5.
With this first round win, Palo Alto advances to play the second seed, St. Francis High School in the CCS quarterfinals on Saturday.
Afshar was pleased with the overall performance.
“I think that we played really well,” Afshar said. “We shut them down early. We are going to practice playing our game this week because that is when we play the best.”
The Vikings’ next game will be a daunting match-up with defending CCS champion, St. Francis High School. Olcott noted that the team exhibited a more aggressive offensive strategy against Salinas, that will benefit the Vikings if they can bring the same mentality to their game against St. Francis.
“We ramped up our number of shots considerably,” Olcott said. “All of this will make a big difference in the next round. We have been playing strong defense all year, and now our offense is starting to click. Having all the starters back and healthy means that we can run more offensively and take some pressure off the younger players, who have done an excellent job filling in for them. Our practices will continue to focus on the fundamentals, shooting and spacing. The team looks great and ready to go for Saturday.”
Palo Alto will face St. Francis in the quarterfinals of the CCS tournament at a site and time to be announced.