The562’s coverage of Long Beach Wilson Athletics is sponsored by Joel Bitonio, Class of 2009.
The562’s coverage of aquatic sports in Long Beach is sponsored by the Aquatic Capital of America Foundation.
Wilson dominated Millikan in a lopsided 20-5 win. The Bruins (6-2, 2-0) are now the only undefeated girls’ water polo team in the Moore League.
“We have the girls in a team mentality,” Wilson Head Coach Barry O’Dea said. “Today was a particularly good day for them finding each other. They did a really good job at that, and they played a really good team game today.”
Wilson played an aggressive game focused on moving the ball forward in any way they could. The Bruins had quick transitions that gave them time to attack toward the goal and pass the ball around the pool.
B. O’Dea said his team focused on the simple aspects of the game during practice, specifically emphasizing playing catch with each other and shooting the ball low on the attack.
“I’m reminding them of those things, just so it kind of spurs that, ‘Yeah, we worked on this,’” B. O’Dea said. “Then it gives me a chance to reaffirm to them that’s why we practiced it. It’s all about reaffirmation of the training and what we’ve been doing every day in the water.”
Wilson stayed aggressive throughout the whole game, attacking early on and keeping the energy up for all four quarters. This began when Wilson won the opening swim-off, giving them the chance to score early.
After being awarded a 5-meter penalty 11 seconds into the game, Reece Haga easily converted this to a goal, setting the tone for the rest of her team.
“Barry’s always about keeping high energy and coming into games with high intensity,” Haga said. “So, it was really important for me to come in and step in.”
Less than a minute later, Grace Walker added on another goal for the Bruins. Katherine O’Dea scored her first goal of the game with 5:23 left in the first quarter after a nice assist from Angeliki Arroyo found the senior in front of Millikan’s goal.
However, the Rams were ready to put up a fight against the Bruins. Freshman Mckenna Rosenberg scored the first goal for Millikan off a goalie deflection.
Haga tacked on another goal for Wilson before Millikan’s Grace Darby closed the first quarter with the Rams’ second goal. After the first seven minutes of play, the game was at a close 4-2 score.
However, the rest of the game saw a dominating team of Bruins. Wilson kept Millikan scoreless in the second quarter, while adding on five goals in their favor. Cici Deluca and freshman Bella Sailey had two goals apiece, allowing multiple Bruins to get a look at the goal.
“When you’re with other girls who are doing good as well, it just makes the team feel overall, like a better environment, and the energy’s up, especially with the girls cheering,” Haga said of the versatility in this year’s Wilson squad. “Everyone was very supportive today, and it felt really nice.”
K. O’Dea kept Wilson’s energy up in the third quarter, scoring a nice goal on a skip shot from far out only 19 seconds in. Darby responded less than 30 seconds later with her second goal of the game and third for Millikan.
Kyley Seeds chipped one in for the Rams as well. Head Coach Mike Carrillo said he is proud of his team’s performance against the powerhouse Bruins.
“We wanted to get out there and make some goals,” Carrillo said. “If you can celebrate everything with a positive or everything with uplifting, they just stay in that mentality.”
Millikan continued to put up a fight against Wilson, but there was no stopping the strong Bruin offense. K. O’Dea completed her hat trick in this quarter, which ultimately saw the home team leading 16-4 going into the final quarter.
The fourth quarter was a continuation of Bruin dominance, with Haga and Sailey getting hat tricks of their own in addition to K. O’Dea’s. B. O’Dea said his team’s strength all over the pool is important as they eye playoffs in the future.
“Our goalies did a good job getting the ball out in transition,” B. O’Dea said. “We want to get everybody in on the same page, as far as with each other and in their team game.”
Wilson closed out their win with goals from Arroyo and Lucy Forrester, earning their 20-5 win over the Rams.
“That’s how we have to be able to play to compete in Division One Open Division,” B. O’Dea said. “We have to play with a high intensity, high energy, physical game, and so we have to maintain that no matter who we’re playing.”
Despite the loss, Carrillo said his team is taking this game as a learning opportunity to improve upon their skills.
“You can call whatever you want, but there’s always opportunity to celebrate and to learn, especially when you’re down by 15 goals,” Carrillo said.
Both teams will play other contests this week before returning to Moore League play next Tuesday. Wilson will travel to Cabrillo, and Millikan will host Lakewood.
