Women’s water polo strikes down Rio on Senior Night
near the Devils’ goal.
By Tarin McMorrow,
Bluedevilhub.com Staff–
The Davis High women’s water polo team secured an impressive 18-3 win against the Rio Americano Raiders at Arroyo Poolo on Tuesday, Oct. 20.
The Devils got off to a good start when senior Kendall Doten scored the first goal less than 30 seconds into the game. Senior Kinsey Van Deynze followed Doten’s example with a beautiful shot past the keeper a minute in.
Following Van Deynze were stunning shots from sophomore Scout Brown and freshman Emily Blackwell, and then a consecutive hat trick from junior Moira Williams. The Devils allowed only one Rio goal during the second half of the quarter.
The standout play of the game came from junior goalkeeper Katrina Sturm, who took the ball strokes away from the goal, threw her arm back and sent a powerful shot hurling into the corner of the Raider’s net in the last seconds of the first quarter, making the score 8-1.
By the end of the first half, the Blue Devils were up 13-1, thanks to goals from freshman Avery Warhover and junior Hailey Cavanaugh, two goals from junior Alyssa Lengtat and a swim-in from Brown.
The second half began with a score from freshman Brooke Doten, but was quickly followed by a goal by Rio. Junior Alena Alvarez’s goal was also countered by the Raiders, who were gaining confidence and continued pressing the Devils.
But this confidence was short-lived when Davis landed two more goals, the first by Williams, and the second by junior Tori Van Court.
Minutes later, Van Court scored the final goal of the game and the only one in the fourth quarter.
Although the Devils are always eager to succeed, this win was especially meaningful as the team took time to recognize the three seniors who played their last home game at Davis High.
“I thought our team did really well and we’re all just looking forward to sections–everything we do is trying to get us ready for sections–but tonight we were looking to showcase our seniors,” Lengtat said.
Coach Doug Wright started off the game with a quick speech about each of the three seniors: Megan Femling, Kendall Doten and Kinsey Van Deynze. It was emotional for the entire team.
“We’ve all made a strong bond with each and every senior and it’ll be hard to see them go,” Lengtat said.
This year is a personal milestone for Wright as well; it is his 20th as a coach at DHS.
“It’s great, it’s wonderful, the season, it’s been kind of cool, about once a week a former player will come in to practice and say ‘hi’ and surprise me,” Wright said.
20 years in, Wright could not be happier with his job.
“Sometimes it feels like 20 and sometimes it doesn’t feel like 20,” he explained. “I really do enjoy it, I enjoy being around the girls, I enjoy coaching, I enjoy inspiring, I enjoy challenges. Being an art teacher I like creating, I like building, I like building teams and trying to create a look or a play style and see what you have.”
