Wednesday, October 21, 2009
The Eagle Rock boys water polo team will return to the water on Monday, Oct. 26 against the Huntington Park Spartans. The match will be at Huntington Park High School's pool, and will start at 3:00.
The Eagles are 9-2 overall this season, and a perfect 7-0 in Eastern League play. They disposed of the Garfield Bulldogs 15-0 on Monday, Oct. 19. Sophomore goalie Owen Miller and senior Daniel Gonzalez combined on the shutout for the Eagles. Offensively, senior forward Christian Gonzalez scored five goals to lead the Eagle attack. Sophomore Christopher Hogue scored four and junior James Doughty added three.
There was a much closer match played on Wednesday, Oct. 14 against the South Gate Rams at the pool at South Gate Park. The Eagles won 14-11, in a tense, competitive game that wasn't decided until the final minutes. "It was a great, nail-biter of a game." said Coach Deb Devine after the game.
The Rams scored the first goal of the game at the 1:01 mark of the first period, and that was the first time the Eagles have trailed in a league game all season. Doughty quickly tied it up for Eagle Rock, and then senior David Pivazian put the Eagles ahead 2-1. The first quarter ended at 3-3 when South Gate's Enrique Toscano rifled a shot in from halfway across the pool. Chrisitian Gonzales scored three goals in the second quarter, including one on a penalty shot, and Eagle Rock led 7-5. Right before halftime, Toscano launched another rocket from midpool to make it 7-6, Eagle Rock.
At halftime, the Eagles made an adjustment. "It wasn't my idea," said Coach Devine, "it was his [Christian's]. He's our best shooter, but he told me he wasn't shooting well from the outside. He volunteered to go to 'the hole.'
The hole is not a form of solitary confinement like you've seen in prison movies. It's a position in water polo, but the player who plays it sometimes gets punished. "The hole set, or 2-meter man, is like a center in basketball," Devine explained. "You really have to love it, because there's a lot of wrestling that goes on down there, and you've also got to pay attention to where the ball is and have a lot of endurance. You're wrestling for position the whole time."
Devine made a look of mock horror to show what the typical reaction players have when they're asked to play in the hole. "It was his idea" Devine said, nodding in the direction of her star player. Christian scored a goal in the opening seconds of the half to extend the Eagle lead to 8-6. He came back with two more in the quarter, including a shot from the corner in the final seconds to up the lead to 11-8. He added two more in the fourth quarter, and Pivazian added one more as the Eagles held on to win.
Toscano scored five for South Gate, as did Rafael Calvo.
Submitted by Steve Calhoun, Assistant Athletic Director
Friday, March 13, 2009
The Eagle Rock girls water polo team ended the season ranked #3 in the City. The Eagles lost to eventual City Champion Birmingham in the semifinals Feb. 25, 2009 in a match played at Birmingham, but then knocked off Fremont in the consolation game played on February 27.
In the game against Birmingham, the Eagles hung tough against the top seeded Patriots. The two teams had met earlier in the season in the finals of the Birmingham Tournament and Birmingham won that match 12-7. In the playoff match, the Eagles fought back and tied the match at 7, before ultimately falling 10-7.
The Eagles and Coach Deb Devine did not have long to be disappointed about this match, however, and they won a wild game against Fremont two days later. Eagle Rock won 21-15, in double overtime, but that alone doesn't show how close the game was.
The score was tied 1-1 at the end of the first quarter. Fremont led 7-5 at halftime, and it was 9-9 at the end of the third quarter. That's when it really got close! With 1:08 to play, Fremont took a 13-12 lead. Junior Melissa Henry tied it up for Eagle Rock with 45 seconds left. Fremont retook the lead with 35 seconds to go. Was Coach Devine worried? "Naw," she said afterward. "I called a time out, and just knew we'd score. I just knew it. Then we had to hold them off."
With 22 seconds left Bianca Del Mundo scored on a high shot from the left side to tie the game at 14-14. The Pathfinders were unable to break the tie, and the game went to overtime.
In water polo, a double overtime is played, despite what happens in the first overtime. The Eagles scored five goals in that first overtime and that essentially was the game. Bianca scored eight goals for the Eagles, and Melissa added six to lead the team.
"We worked hard that last practice before we played them," Coach Devine said. "We swam a little longer distances, so we could outwork 'em at the end."
Overall, the Eagles finished the season 16-3, and were the champions of the Eastern League (like the double overtime, some things are different in water polo!) with a record of 9-1. Coach Devine is optimistic that the Eagles will be just as good next year, as top scorers Sharon Perez, Melissa Henry and Bianca Del Mundo will all be back. Senior goalie Elizabeth Michel will need to be replaced, but that is about it.
Submitted by Steve Calhoun, Assistant Athletic Director
Monday, February 23, 2009
The Eagle Rock girls water polo team has advanced to the semifinals by beating the Venice Gondoliers 12-3 on Friday, Feb. 20. The Eagles, seeded fourth, will now take on top-seeded Birmingham in a match to be played at Birmingham on Wednesday, Feb. 25 at 3:00. Earlier this season the Patriots beat the Eagles by five goals in the finals of the Birmingham Tournament.
The Eagles had no trouble defeating Venice in a match played at the Yosemite Park Pool. At the 6;23 mark of the first quarter, senior goalie Elizabeth Michel stopped a Venice shot, then made like John Elway and flung a length of the pool pass that led Jinni Tomikawa perfectly. Jinni pushed the ball forward a couple of feet, then fired in the opening goal. The Eagles then scored two more in the next two minutes, and were never threatened. Melissa Henry and Sharon Perez each scored four goals to lead the Eagles. Two of Perez' goals came on sidearm deliveries that skipped past the Venice goalie like stones skimmed across a stream.
Submitted by Steve Calhoun, Assistant Athletic Director
Tuesday, December 2, 2008
The Eagle Rock girls water polo team will take on LACES on December 12,2008 at Yosemite Park. It will be the second match of the season for the team.
The girls were victorious in their first match against the Banning Pilots, winning by the score of 14-1. Junior Melissa Henry scored five goals and sophomore Sharon Perez added three to lead the Eagles.
The Eagle Rock boys water polo has finished the season with a number four ranking in the City. The Eagles lost to Venice High School 14-13 in the third place game November 14. The game was every bit as close as the score indicates. Although the Eagles never led, they were never behind by too much, and clawed their way back to within one goal with 22 seconds left. They even had a chance for a Hail Mary attempt as the horn sounded at the end of the game, but it was not to be.
Sophomore James Doughty scored five goals for the Eagles, while junior Christian Gonzalez and senior Justin Arevalo each scored three. Justin finished the season with a school-record 72 goals. Jimmy Temple scored a game-high seven goals for the Gondoliers.
"They had a great season," said Coach Deb Devine recently of her Eagle Rock team, which finished the regular season 10-0 and won the Southern League title. "They played hard all season." While the Eagles will be without seniors such as Justin and goalkeeper Kevin Nebrejas next year, Coach Devine is excited about the core group of juniors and underclassmen who will return.
Submitted by Steve Calhoun, Asst. Athletic Director
Tuesday, February 27, 2007
The Eagle Rock water polo team concluded its inaugural season with a championship. The Eagles soared to an 11-1 mark one under Coach Debbie Devine, and captured the Northern League championship by defeating Roosevelt 6-5 in the tournament championship game. The two teams had split the two regular season meetings.
"It was a great group," said Coach Devine. "We stuck to the basics. At the beginning of the year, we had some kids who couldn't even beat eggs (tread water)! We played as a unit, and it was hard to beat us because we played a good zone defense.
Senior Sunny Stefanov scored the winning goal against Roosevelt on a penalty kick with just a couple of minutes left. All season, Sunny was the go-to guy when the team needed some offense.
Defensively, the Eagles were led by junior goalie Andres Gonzalez, who made some key saves against the Roughriders. Also playing tough defense were freshman Christian (Andres' younger brother) Gonzalez and junior Shantelle Hernandez.
Many of the water polo players will form the nucleus of Coach Devine's swim team this spring.
