Flintridge Prep water polo throttles Milken
LA CAÑADA FLINTRIDGE — Facing a winless Prep League opponent, the Flintridge Prep boys’ water polo team wasn’t about to let Milken Community within striking distance of its first league victory.
By the time Milken cracked the scoreboard midway through the second quarter, the Rebels were out to a nine-goal lead and kept building on that advantage en route to a 22-6 victory Wednesday at Flintridge Prep.
Prep’s junior transfer from Loyola John Treinen had an all-around strong performance, as he finished the game with four goals, five assists and four steals — all in the first half.
“We had to come out strong so we could get our subs in and get them some more experience,” Treinen said. “We had to come out strong to put it away early.”
The Rebels (13-7, 4-2 in league), ranked fifth in CIF Southern Section Division V, did just that with a balanced offensive attack with Diego Delgado and Ethan Vandeventer scoring six and five goals, respectively. Prep also finished with 15 assists on the night with Treinen leading the way, Vandeventer adding three and Delgado two.
“I love seeing the balanced attack and I love seeing all the assists,” said Flintridge Prep Coach Dan Hare, whose team improved on its 14-7 victory over the Wildcats in late September. “I don’t like seeing a bunch of goals with just a few assists, but there was an assist on almost every goal today.”
The lead continued to grow with each quarter. Two goals from Jamie Walker and three from Treinen helped put Prep up 6-0 at the end of the first and the advantage grew to 12-3 at halftime, as Vandeventer and Delgado had three and two goals, respectively, in the second quarter.
The Rebels slowed down in the second half, as they cleared their bench a few minutes into the third quarter and did so again late in the fourth. Four more goals from Delgado and two from Vandeventer pushed Prep’s lead to 12, 18-6, going into the final quarter.
Prep kept Milken (0-8 in league) off the scoreboard in the fourth, as its lead swelled to 16 with Walker (four goals) notching two more goals over the final seven minutes. Daniel Afar and David Itkin finished with three and two goals, respectively, for the Wildcats.
While the Rebels had the luxury of putting the game away early Wednesday, they know they’re in for a challenge when they host reining league champion Pasadena Poly, the third-ranked team in the division, on Friday at 3:30 p.m.
“A rivalry only counts if you can beat a team every once in a while,” said Hare of the upcoming clash with the Panthers. “We are looking forward to bringing the rivalry back into it.”