The winter sports season is one of the longest through the interscholastic term and one of the most difficult to navigate, at least at the onset considering there are two holiday breaks (Thanksgiving and Christmas), a semester break and, of course, midterm finals.
“December is almost impossible to play games in,” Bonita Vista High School girls water polo coach Betty Alexander explained. “The girls water polo season is very frustrating to me because it’s nearly impossible to field a full roster until mid-January because kids are either sick or on vacation. I started out with 50-something girls and only about 13 are available to play at the moment.”
The Barons only had one substitute player on the bench for Tuesday’s game against Otay Ranch at the Southwestern College pool.
Otay Ranch coach Carolyn Lechner was feeling the holiday crunch as well. The Mustangs had just two subs.
Despite the short benches, both teams turned in a highly competitive performance as Bonita Vista erased a pair of two-goal deficits to win, 10-9, in overtime.
“It was very competitive, very fun to watch,” Alexander said. “I’m happy that my girls were able to pull it out of the gutter.”
“It was probably our best game so far this season; it was definitely the most competitive,” Lechner said.
The match-up featured a lot of back-and-forth rushes, plenty of shots and plenty of saves by both goalies.
Bonita Vista carved out a narrow 1-0 lead on the only goal scored in the opening quarter – that by Megan Slovatizki.
Otay Ranch tied the score early in the second quarter on a goal by Nicole Balvaneda, assisted by goalie Martha Flores
Slovatizki gave the Barons a 2-1 lead at halftime.
The teams combined to score four goals in the third quarter – two by each team – as Bonita Vista nursed a 4-3 lead into the final quarter.
That’s when things got a little crazy in the scorekeeping department as the teams combined for nine goals – five by Otay Ranch and four by the Barons – to finish in an 8-8 deadlock at the end of regulation play.
The Mustangs tied the game, 4-4, on a five-meter penalty shot by Evelyn Lopez to start the fourth quarter. Slovatizki promptly scored on a half-court shot to put Bonita Vista back in front 5-4.
But Otay Ranch would reel off three unanswered goals to take a 7-5 lead. Balvaneda leveled the game at five goals apiece while Lopez made the score 6-5 in the Mustangs’ favor and Balvaneda added a power play goal to up the Otay Ranch lead to 7-5.
But no lead proved safe in this game.
The Barons scored a power play goal with 2:03 left in the quarter to draw within 7-6 on the scoreboard. The goal was the fifth of the game for Slovatizki.
Dilan Johnson answered back for the Mustangs as they took an 8-6 lead with 1:27 to play in regulation.
But Slovatizki netted her sixth goal of the game on another penalty shot with 52 seconds left in the quarter.
8-7 Otay Ranch.
Sylvanna Olivas scored on an exclusion to tie the game for the Barons with just 19 seconds left in regulation.
Both teams had chances to break the tie but were unable to capitalize to keep the teams tied.
That ushered in two three-minute overtime periods.
Slovatizki put Bonita Vista ahead, 9-8, on a goal 35 seconds into the first overtime. Johnson tied the game, 9-9, on a goal to follow up for Otay Ranch.
Slovatizki scored her eighth and final goal of the game with 25 seconds to play in the first overtime period to give the Barons a 10-9 lead.
Neither team scored in the second overtime to give Bonita Vista the win.
Johnson and Balvaneda each scored three goals in the loss for Otay Ranch while Lopez scored two goals. Olivas had two goals for the Barons.
The Barons, who opened the season with lopsided losses to Granite Hills (12-1), West Hills (16-1) and Eastlake (10-3), leveled their season record at 4-4 with the win over the Mustangs.
Bonita Vista recorded its first win of the season Dec. 19 against Olympian, winning 14-5, and most recently participated in the Eagles Varsity Challenge Jan. 4-5, meeting Helix, Santana and Ramona.
Otay Ranch opened the season with losses to Hilltop (8-2) and Granite Hills (13-2).
Tuesday’ loss dropped the Mustangs to 0-2 in Mesa League play. Bonita Vista improved to 1-1 in Mesa League play.
Eastlake improved to 3-0 in Mesa League play following an 11-0 win at Hilltop on Jan. 5 and an 11-4 win at Mater Dei Catholic on Tuesday.
Photo Gallery by Phillip Brents
Hilltop surge tops Chula Vista, 13-3, in non-league match-up
A quick check of last year’s San Diego Section playoff results reveals the following:
Eastlake received the No. 2 seed in the Division II bracket but exited in the quarterfinals following a 7-6 loss to seventh-seeded Scripps Ranch.
Bonita Vista received the No. 4 seed in the Division II field and exited in the quarterfinals following a 7-6 loss to fifth-seeded University City.
Mar Vista (Division I), Otay Ranch (Division II), Olympian (Division III), Chula Vista (Division III) and San Ysidro (Division III) all lost opening-round playoff matches.
University City did go on to place runner-up to Canyon Crest Academy in the Division II championship game.
Hilltop failed to qualify for last year’s playoff field but could be making some noise by the end of this season after recording a 13-3 non-league win over Chula Vista Dec. 12 at the Parkway pool.
Certainly, the numbers are pointing in the right direction for the Lancers.
“We have 40 girls on the team this season, which is the largest number of girls water polo players at the school in a long time,” Hilltop head coach Ernie Medina said. “A lot of them are young. We have about 10 ninth-graders. It’s looking good to rebuilding the program.”
Medina said he hopes to build this year’s team around returners Jordan Carpadakis, Mia Morey and Ruby Chavez.
Carpadakis led the Lancers with six goals in Wednesday’s game while Chavez scored three goals and Morey scored two goals. Corrine Locke made nine goalie saves to support Hilltop’s defensive effort.
The Dec. 12 game was a continuation of a game stopped the previous week due to lightning.
The Lancers faced off league play with an 8-2 win over Otay Ranch on Dec. 20.
Metro Conference Standings
(Through Jan. 9)
Mesa League
Eastlake 3-0, 8-4
Mar Vista 3-0, 8-8
Bonita Vista 1-1, 4-4
Hilltop 1-2, 5-4
Mater Dei Catholic 0-2, 3-8
Otay Ranch 0-3, 0-4
South Bay League
Montgomery 3-0, 7-4
San Ysidro 3-0, 3-10
Chula Vista 2-1, 5-5
Olympian 1-2, 1-4
Castle Park 0-2, 3-3
Southwest 0-4, 1-7
