Flintridge Sacred Heart polo dominates La Salle

It was a slow first quarter for the Flintridge Sacred Heart water polo team when it took on La Salle in a nonleague match Wednesday afternoon.

Although the Tologs didn’t allow a goal, they were held scoreless until the final 48 seconds of the opening stanza as they tried to figure out the Lancers.

Things were dramatically different for Flintridge Sacred Heart from there, though. It scored four goals on its first four shots of the second quarter, continued to dominate on defense and surged on offense to a 17-1 victory against visiting La Salle.

“In the beginning of the game, I just think we needed to adjust,” said Flintridge Sacred Heart’s Zoe Drobenko, who led her team with five goals. “We really didn’t’ know what to expect, because we haven’t played La Salle in a few years.

“So, we were able to adjust our defense and we were able to kind of pick things up in the second quarter. Once we got going, everything started clicking.”

The Flintridge Sacred Heart (6-8) defense kept La Salle (2-12) scoreless for three quarters and nearly earned a rare shutout. However, the Lancers received a goal from Mary Costa with 25 seconds left to break the scoreless string.

Flintridge Sacred Heart received fine defense efforts from Sara Peterson (two goals) and Emily Gray (two goals), who had six steals apiece, and goalkeeper Trisha Canessa, who had eight saves.

The Tologs took a 2-0 lead after the first quarter, but could only tally two goals off 11 shots. La Salle goalkeeper Paige Carleen (14 saves in three quarters) did a good job at stopping the Tologs, making seven saves – including stopping six of the first seven shots – in the frist stanza.

“After that first quarter, I thought the girls did a good job at switching things around,” Flintridge Sacred Heart Coach Carlos Ponce said. “What I really liked is the girls themselves came in and talked about what wasn’t working and what things we needed to work on.

“They were seeing the Zoe was open and they did a good job at getting her the ball. Any time you leave Zoe open, she’s going to score.”

In the second quarter, Drobenko scored three of the team’s first four goals on four shots. Drobenko added another in the stanza and Flintridge Sacred Heart went into halftime with a 9-0 advantage.

In the third quarter, the Tologs defense had eight steals and limited the Lancers to just two shots. Flintridge Sacred Heart increased its advantage to 11-0 after three.

“It’s nice to play other teams in other leagues and other divisions,” said Ponce, whose squad resumes Mission League play Thursday at Sherman Oaks Notre Dame. “It’s good to see different teams and different styles.”

The Tologs built a 17-0 lead with a goal by Katherine Rosenberger with 3:10 remaining before the Lancers tallied their lone goal in the final minute.

La Salle, which competes in the Prep League, converted just one of its 15 shots in the contest.