Davis High water polo wins regional quarterfinals
PHOTO: The Davis High water polo team huddles together after their win over Campolindo on Nov. 19.
By Alexandra Zurborg,
BlueDevilHUB.com Staff–
The Davis High women’s varsity water polo team edged their way to victory against the Campolindo Cougars with a score of 7-6 in overtime, on Nov. 19 at the Schaal Aquatic Center.
The match began with Campolindo winning the sprint to the ball, but Davis was the first team on the board, with senior Brooke Imamoto scoring the first goal and giving the Devils the lead, 1-0.
The Cougars scored two goals later in the quarter. However, senior Faith Cerussi was able to tie the game up to leave the score 2-2 at the end of the first quarter.
Later in the second quarter, Campolindo had scored three more goals, leaving Davis down 5-2. Head coach Doug Wright called a timeout to get the players back into the game and soon after, sophomore Lindsay Taylor and Imamoto scored, bringing the score to 5-4 at halftime.
In the third quarter, the Cougars scored another quick goal, however, Imamoto was able to complete the hat-trick by putting another point on the board for Davis, and the third quarter ended with a score of 6-5 in favor of Campolindo.
With the Blue Devils down one point to tie the game and bring it into overtime, the whole crowd was on the edge of their seats as Davis and Campolindo both called for a timeout.
The Campolindo possession was stolen by Taylor as she assisted senior Alex Harris to scoring the tying point, 6-6, and the game headed to overtime.
The teams started the overtime period with three minutes on the clock. Campolindo again won the sprint to the ball, but it was soon turned over to Davis.
With only 10 seconds left in the overtime period, Cerussi broke the tie, scoring the winning goal for Davis. Davis defense stayed strong during the second overtime, not allowing the Cougars any strong possessions or shots, and the final score held at 7-6 in favor of the Blue Devils.
“I wasn’t sure that we were going to be able to pull that off, but the girls hung tight and made some big shots,” Wright said. “We took advantage of some opportunities and worked through some challenging moments and we did it as one group, one team.”
Imamoto was the leader of the scoreboard, scoring three out of Davis’ seven points in addition to accounting for two assists.
“I was just amazed at how hard everyone played the entire game, including overtime, no one gave up, no one stopped. It was a fantastic game,” Imamoto said.
Davis will be playing the No. 1 seed, Acalanes, on Nov. 21 for regional semi-finals.
