The Bonita Vista High School boys water polo team is making progress, and head coach Betty Alexander certainly sees nothing bad about that.
The Barons dropped Monday’s non-league game to Monte Vista at the Southwestern College pool by a 12-6 score, though the final score hardly is indicative of the improvement the team displayed after absorbing a 23-7 non-league setback to San Marcos on Sept. 9.
“We fought back after being down by five goals to make a game out of it,” noted Alexander, whose team regrouped from a 6-1 deficit at the end of the first quarter to trail at halftime 6-5. “We outscored them 4-0 in the second quarter and it was 1-1 between the teams in the third quarter.
“The fourth quarter our guys got tired and we lost our intensity. We’re going to work on our conditioning.”
Top returners this season include seniors Matt Ayala and Brtyan Murrillo and juniors Diego Sanchez and Ezekiel Flores.
Sanchez made 14 saves in Monday’s contest against the Monarchs, including several point-blank stops and at least one with his face.
Murrillo scored Bonita Vista’s lone goal in the opening quarter on a five-meter penalty shot to trim the early Monte Vista lead to 4-1.
Goals by Greg Schiefer and Jose Ibanez and then a pair by Murrillo to end the first half positioned the Barons within a goal.
The hosts had several good scoring opportunities to start the second half but the third period proved one that was dominated by the goalies of both teams.
Murrillo scored on another five-meter shot to make the score 7-6 entering the fourth quarter. But the Monarchs capitalized on several BV miscues to reel off five unanswered goals in the final quarter.
Murrillo finished the game with four goals to lead the Barons, whose record dropped to 0-3 on the season.
Bonita Vista is grouped in Division III this season for postseason play and, while the losses to divisional foes San Marcos and Monte Vista do not help at the present for seeding purposes, Alexander still remains optimistic about the team’s progress over the course of the season.
The Barons faced off the season with an 18-6 scrimmage win over Escondido in the ninth annual Draz Classic at Granite Hills High School on Aug. 22.
“We are excited to have a more offensive team then in the past years,” she said. “We hope to develop our teamwork and be competitive in our league and division.”
Titans starting to make waves
The defending Mesa League champion Eastlake Titans saw their early season record dip to 4-3 following a narrow non-league setback to University City last Friday. “The game was tied 7-7 going into the fourth quarter and we lost 10-8,” EHS coach Austin Legg explained.
The Titans previously defeated Helix, 17-6, in a non-league match-up on Sept. 10 after posting an encouraging 3-2 showing in the Poway Invitational Sept. 4-6. Eastlake dropped its tourney opener, 17-11, to Mt. Carmel, then defeated Mira Mesa, 17-2, before absorbing a 7-3 loss to Poway. The Titans closed out the tourney with wins over Patrick Henry (13-7) and Helix (13-3).
Eastlake next hosts Rancho Buena Vista in a key non-league game Sept. 23 at 7:15 p.m. at Southwestern College.
“We’re improving every game,” Legg noted. “We’re getting closer and closer to where we want to be.”
The upcoming Division II playoffs look to be extremely competitive, with nine teams in the division boasting winning records through the opening two weeks of regular season play. Fallbrook is 4-1, while Steele Canyon is 3-1 and both Mar Vista and Rancho Bernardo are 4-2. Mater Dei Catholic and Clairemont are both off to 2-0 starts while La Jolla Country Day is 2-1 and Point Loma is 4-3.
Mar Vista finished 3-2 in the Poway Invitational with losses to Granite Hills (13-5) and Rancho Bernardo (11-9) and victories against RBV (11-6), Helix (8-4) and San Pasqual (14-13).
The Mariners defeated Mission Bay, 14-3, in a non-league match-up on Sept. 9.
Early season leaders for Mar Vista include senior Shane Landry with 31 points (18 goals, 13 assists), seinor Josh Johnson with 24 points (18 goals, six assists), junio Gabriel Caswall with 22 points (six goals, 16 assists) and junior Faux Mahan with 14 points (10 goals, four assists). Landry leads the team with 12 steals in six games.
Junior Hector Ramirez has played the bulk of minutes in the cage, posting an 8.6 goals-against average.
Prep Scoreboard
Non-League
Tuesday, Sept. 2
Torrey Pines 16, Bonita Vista 2
Thursday, Sept. 4
Mater Dei Cathollc 12, San Ysidro 2
Tuesday, Sept. 9
Hilltop 16, San Ysidro 10
San Marcos 23, Bonita Vista 7
Mar Vista 14, Mission Bay 3
Mission Hills 21, Southwest 1
Wednesday, Sept. 10
San Ysidro 13, Escondido 11
Eastlake 17, Helix 6
Mater Dei Catholic 7, Pt. Loma 6
San Dieguito Academy 8, Otay Ranch 5
Thursday, Sept. 11
Clairemont 12, Hilltop 10
Friday, Sept. 12
Pt. Loma 9, Hilltop 7 (2OT)
University City 10, Eastlake 8
Monday, Sept. 15
Monte Vista 12, Bonita Vista 6
Tuesday, Sept. 16
Otay Ranch 15, Escondido 3
Classical Academy 11, San Ysidrro 6
Olympian 11, Army-Navy Academy 6
Wednesday, Sept. 17
Hilltop 20, Chula Vista 3
Monte Vista 19, Mater Dei Catholic 14
Thursday, Sept. 18
Monte Vista 13, Hilltop 9
Friday, Sept. 19
San Ysidro at Bonita Vista, no report
Saturday, Sept. 20
Mater Dei Catholic 13, El Capitan 6
