Girls’ water polo: El Rancho rules the pool
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El Rancho’s girls water polo team began the season ranked eighth in the Southern Section Division III coaches’ poll. Fifteen wins and zero losses later, the Dons have moved up to seventh and could rise even higher if they win this week’s Arlington tournament.
El Rancho won its first two pool-play games Thursday and plays Riverside Poly, ranked No. 3 in Division III, today with No. 6 Arlington a potential opponent for the winner. The Dons can make a strong case for being ranked even higher than they are with two wins over both Burbank (No. 5 in Division IV) and Glendale (No. 9 in Division IV) and a 8-5 nonleague victory over Temple City (No. 4 in Division III).
El Rancho is led by senior utility player Sharon Pedregon, who scored 10 goals in two games Thursday, including seven in the Dons’ 11-10 overtime victory over Chaparral (No. 2 in Division V). Under first-year Coach John Pringle, El Rancho plays Montebello (No. 2 in Division I) next Friday and Del Rio League rival Whittier (No. 1 in Division III) on Feb. 6.
Also boasting a perfect record this winter is Walnut, which remains unranked despite a 14-0 slate, well over 140 goals scored, and victories over Crescenta Valley (No. 7 in Division IV), Elsinore (No. 4 in Division IV) and Temescal Canyon (No. 5 in Division V). Just how good are these Mustangs?
-- Steve Galluzzo, guest blogger
-- Image from www.flickr.com