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Outmanned water polo squad loses to pool powers

Sweet Home’s skeleton water polo squad ran into a couple of buzz saws during the last week, facing two of the most powerful programs in the state in Cottage Grove and West Albany.

The Huskies, who have eight players – enough for one substitute if they put a full team in the water – fell to defending state champion West Albany on Monday, 13-6.

The Bulldogs have 20 players on their roster, but the Huskies felt pretty good about the match, Coach Craig Martin said.

“We got outmanned a little bit,” he said. “They put fresh bodies in the water at almost every substitution. But our kids felt good about themselves. They felt like they were able to learn from what was happening out there.”

He said the West Albany coach took the pressure off once the Bulldogs had a comfortable lead – something that didn’t happen against Cottage Grove at home last Wednesday, Sept. 14.

“Even though score was a little lopsided, it was well-played by both sides,” Martin said. “It felt good. It didn’t feel bad to lose 13-6 to them.”

Cottage Grove defeated Sweet Home 17-4 as the Huskies’ limited squad could not overcome the speed and physicality of the visitors,who scored four quick goals in the first quarter en route to the lopsided victory.

“They are fast, very physical and a more experienced team than us,” Martin said. “We just could not counter their aggressive play and swimming speed.”

Cottage Grove is perennially one of the top 4A boys swimming teams in the state and though Sweet Home is also one of the stronger swimming schools in the state, most of its fastest and most physical swimmers do not play water polo.

Martin praised his squad with maintaining their composure against the Lions and playing through what could have been a real demoralizing loss.

“We kept our heads up and maintained our composure and sportsmanship regardless of the score,” he said.

The Huskies got all four scores from senior Jake Johnson, who was forced to shoot from the perimeter due to the Cottage Grove’s aggressive style of play. Johnson also scored all six of Sweet Home’s goals at West Albany.

“The problem is he’s our only offensive threat,” Martin said of Johnson. “Once he scores a couple of times, pretty soon they’re able to counter with their defense. We’ve got to spread out our offense and get some more people scoring so we have options.”

Next up for the Huskies, now 1-2, is Marist, which will visit Husky Pool Friday at 4 p.m. That will be the last home match for Sweet Home for nearly a month, as the Huskies head out onto the road for their next five matches.

“That should be a good match-up for us,” Martin said. “Cottage Grove did to Marist what they did to us. It should be a good game.”

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