The boys water polo team defeated the Homestead Mustangs 9-8 in their game on Saturday afternoon.
Starting with the first sprint, the Bears were unable to take initial possession. However, they quickly displayed their dominance with an impressive block from junior goalkeeper Michael Poirier. M-A rattled off multiple shot attempts in the first minutes, but it wasn’t until 3:50 that junior Navid Riahi planted the first goal of the game.
Senior Evan Ten Vaanholt maintained the Bears’ momentum, stealing possession from the Mustangs and scoring a goal 30 seconds after Riahi to give M-A a 2-0 lead.
“Before going in, we were set on how they were a good team, and that it was going to be a tough battle. I think it was really good how we adapted to their defense,” Ten Vaanholt said.
The Mustangs eventually found their rhythm and scored their first goal with 2:50 left in the first quarter. The teams were evenly matched on both ends of the pool, and neither was able to land any more points in the quarter, as Poirier’s control of the cage went unmatched. The first quarter ended after a long shot attempt from the Mustangs, leaving the Bears up 2-1.
Moving into the second quarter, M-A’s communication and movement stayed consistent compared to the disjointed Mustangs. Riahi sank his second goal of the game with 4:46 on the clock, but Homestead retaliated by planting an inside pass into the cage. The Mustangs scored again within a minute and brought the game to a tie.
Determined to regain the lead, Ten Vaanholt scored a shot-clock buzzer-beater, keeping energy high for M-A. The Bears held off the Mustangs’ offense for the remainder of the quarter, until, with six seconds left, they were miraculously able to score.
The first half ended with a tie, 4-4, but the Bears were not discouraged in the slightest. They dove into the second half intent on winning and treated it as if it were a new game.
Homestead opened with a powerful outside shot but was unsuccessful in scoring past Poirier. Ten Vaanholt quickly gave the Bears their lead again just 55 seconds into the quarter, but after repeated steals from both teams, the Mustangs tied the score 5-5 with a wide shot.
Taking back the lead, junior Spencer Harding planted an outside shot off the goalkeeper’s hands with 3:15 left in the third quarter. Winters was then able to successfully steal possession from Homestead, but wasn’t able to capitalize and score for M-A.
Poirier displayed his dominance in the cage yet again with an incredible save of a shot that snuck behind him. Both M-A and Homestead called timeouts in the final minutes of the quarter to regroup, and the Mustangs were able to tie the game after scoring with just 20 seconds left in the quarter.
Winters attempted to score for the Bears in the final seconds but unfortunately missed, ending the quarter tied 6-6.
Ten Vaanholt opened the final quarter with a powerful goal just 49 seconds in, and Riahi maintained the momentum, scoring again with 5:13 left in the game. The Bears now held an 8-6 lead, but Homestead refused to give up.
M-A’s defensive strength served them well as the Mustangs attempted shot after shot. With just 1:55 left, the Mustangs scored off a smoking outside shot, but Ten Vaanholt retaliated and scored off a pass from Winters.
Homestead planted their final goal of the game with a minute to spare, and as the Bears led 9-8, they just needed to hold onto that last point to win the match. The Mustangs called a timeout with 39 seconds left in a final, dire attempt to stay in the CCS competition, but with Poirier in goal, their hopes were unattainable.
Even though the match was tight, M-A was able to take home the win, sending them off to the CCS semifinals.
“The team did a good job on guarding their best players. We kept them to eight points, which just shows how well we played defense against them,” Riahi said. “[Going into CCS semifinals] we know it’s going to be a hard couple of games to finish this division, but it’s very doable.”
The Bears will face the Junipero Serra Padres at Gunn High School for the CCS semifinals on Thursday at 5:30 p.m.
