Girls Water Polo: Mustangs Open EBAL With Sloppy Win

Monte Vista 11, Carondelet 7

The Star: Maggie Steffens. The Mustangs standout scored three goals to lead Monte Vista to a five-goal advantage by halftime.

The Quote: "I was looking for a group that would start playing better. I am still looking." – Monte Vista head coach Scott Getty, who pulled his starters midway through the final period and watched a seven goal lead quickly dwindle to four.

What's Next? The Mustangs head to Davis to play a pair of non-league games on Saturday against St. Francis and Davis.

Bottom Line: Monte Vista won its EBAL league opener but Getty saw very little in his team's mostly sloppy performance beyond the win to be happy about on Thursday.

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If you had arrived after the league opening game for the Monte Vista High girls water polo team had concluded on Thursday afternoon at Monte Visa, you might have taken one look at Mustangs head coach Scott Getty's demeanor and guessed that his team had lost.

But Getty's squad had in fact just dispatched Carondelet 11-7 in the East Bay Athletic League opener for both teams. But aside from the final score, Getty had seen very little that made him happy about the win.

It would even be safe to say that Getty's mood was so dour he would have depressed a hyena.

Despite pulling away to an early 4-1 lead by the end of the opening period and eventually extending the lead to 10-3 by the final period, the Mustangs played very sloppy on both ends of the pool. A fact not lost on their coach.

"I was not happy at all," Getty said following the win that improved his team's record to 5-0 overall. "Our defense definitely should be better and we're forcing things on offense."

Monte Vista's passing was not crisp and at times the passes were not made on time, if at all. The Mustangs were also their own worst enemy on fast break chances. On at least three occasions the Mustangs had clean breakaways and never even got off a shot.

Epitomizing the Mustangs misfortunes was a breakaway by Meghan Harder that left her all alone on Carondelet goalie Riley Shaw with two Cougars defenders hopeless trailing behind the play and unable to do anything to stop Harder.

Harder set up to shoot and fired her arm forward only to discover that the ball had slipped out of her hand a split second before the shot was initiated. Harder quickly slipped under the water in disgust and stayed there for a few seconds, as if hoping Getty's attention would be elsewhere when she resurfaced.

It wasn't.

But when the Mustangs offense was in sync on Thursday it was looking as close to unstoppable as you can get.

Senior Maggie Steffens single-handedly led the Mustangs out to a 6-1 lead by halftime, scoring all three of her goals in the first two periods. Harder added two goals along with Brittany Cribb and Tori Bidwell. Katy Tomalenas and Coco Janze each added goals to round out the scoring for the Mustangs.

Devon Chiapello scored two of her three goals in the final period to lead Carondelet. Chiapello's second goal of the game drew Getty's ire and resulted in Getty substituting all six starters out of the game.

With the shot clock winding down and trailing by seven, Chiapello fired a shot from a spot in the pool that seemed to be closer to her own goal than the Mustangs own net. Somehow, the shot found its way into the net and Getty was not happy to see it.

"I was looking for a group to start playing better," Getty said. "I am still looking. There is no way she should score from way out there."

But the Mustangs lead proved too large for them to lose before time ran out. Still, Getty is concerned with his team's effort this early in the season.

"We're starting to get a little full of ourselves," Getty said. "We need to start playing better or we are going to lose.

Getty has two chances to get his team back on track this Saturday when Monte Vista travels to Davis to play a pair of non-league games against St. Francis and Davis before returning to league action next week.  

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Monte Vista 11, Carondelet 7

C - Goals: Devon Chiapello 3, Lauren Radich 2, Natalie Muzzini, Kelly Gross; Saves – Riley Shaw 3.

MV – Goals: Maggie Steffens 3, Meghan Harder 2, Brittany Cribb 2, Tori Bidwell 2, Katy Tomalenas, Coco Janze; Saves: Rachel Mitchell 4, Mimi Harris.

Records – Carondelet 0-1 EBAL; Monte Vista 1-0 EBAL, 5-0 overall.

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