La Cañada boys’ water polo falls short in rally against Temple City
La Cañada High boys’ water polo player Luke Stefan takes a shot on goal versus Temple City a in Rio Hondo League home game on Tuesday. Temple City won, 13-11.
Having never led, the La Cañada High boys’ water polo team found itself playing catch-up all afternoon.
Eventually, that style caught up to the Spartans on Tuesday, as La Cañada was one rally short versus visiting Temple City in a 13-11 Rio Hondo League defeat.
PHOTOS: Spartans fall to Temple City, 13-11
With the setback, the Spartans (3-12) and Rams (14-10) pulled even in the standings at 2-2 in league play at the season’s midway point. Even though both teams are tied, momentum was clearly not on La Cañada’s side.
“We have a lot to work on,” Spartans assistant coach Davey Brown. “We have to do better on six-on-fives, on our play, on slowing down our play – we’re just going too fast. We rushed our shots against South Pasadena on [Oct. 13 in a 10-8 loss] and again today and it’s cost us goals and games.”
La Cañada’s last charge came at the 2:07 mark in the contest when the Spartans pulled within 13-11 on a goal from Wyatt Lowe (three goals) off an assist from Justin Ho.
At that juncture, the Spartans outshot the Rams, 5-4, in the quarter and managed four more shots on their final three possessions.
Lowe had a shot rattle off the outside of the crossbar with 1:30 left and another shot blocked with 30 seconds left that was rebounded by Vince Warole (three goals and two assists) and fired just wide right.
Even with five seconds remaining, Temple City goalie Sideeq Mora tallied one last block to finish the contest with 10 saves.
“We felt it was important not to let them tie the game,” said Temple City Coach Davo Gharagyozyan, a Glendale High alumnus. “With the crowd into the game and cheering them on, we didn’t want to get in a situation where they could feed off the crowd and maybe even get a win.”
The contest was last tied midway through the first period when Lowe converted a man-advantage opportunity off an assist from Jeremy Kim that knotted the score at 3.
The goal marked the first score for the Spartans on a six-on-five opportunity, as the squad finished three for seven.
After the score, however, Temple City netted two goals, the final from Henry Rodriguez off an assist from Mora set up on a steal and quick counter from Kevin Lam with 13 seconds left to go to put the Rams up, 5-3, after one quarter.
The Rams scored the first goal of the second quarter from Andrew Ton to go up, 6-3. The three-goal advantage remained until halftime, as the Rams led, 8-5.
Perhaps the third quarter was most disappointing for La Cañada, as Temple City scored on only one of four man-advantage opportunities, but still extended its lead to 12-8.
“We have to work as a team more and communicate more,” said Ho, who finished with one assist and one steal. “We just don’t have the synergy and chemistry that we used to have and we have to find it.”
Temple City led, 13-9, before La Cañada got a goal from Warole with 4:18 left.
Brown was furious a minute earlier when it appeared a shot by Lowe crossed the goal line, but was not called a score. Instead, Mora reached out and put the ball back into play.
For Brown, the shot was similar to a first-half attempt that also danced on the goal line and was not called a goal.
“You have two goals that went in that didn’t actually count,” Brown said. “If they count those, it’s a tied game and we go into overtime. I told the guy to keep playing hard because you’re not always going to have good refereeing.”