Both Sweet Home water polo squads’ ended Saturday with losses to teams from the 5A Intermountain Conference.
Playing in a regional qualifier for the state tournament, the girls lost 17-11 to Bend, while the boys fell 19-5 to Summit.
“It was a great season,” Coach Craig Martin said. “We were much improved over last year.”
The girls found themselves down a player, as they have been much of the season €“ when they have had enough players to even field a team €“ against the Lava Bears.
“I think if we had been fully staffed with defenders, we could have won that game,” Martin said. “It was a pretty high-scoring affair. With a couple more girls we would be advancing, probably, but when we don’t have enough to even do substitutions, it can be a bit of a challenge.”
Niccole Simmonds, who has come on noticeably as a scorer this year, led the Huskies with six goals. Sami Webb added four and Cheryl Wilson scored one.
The girls finished 3-6 on the season, Martin said.
He said the boys found Summit to be “a very fast, physical, aggressive” team and that the relatively inexperienced Huskies had trouble adjusting to the officiating, which did not permit the kind of defense Sweet Home is used to playing.
“Unfortunately, our defense became ineffective after the first quarter because of the physicality of the game,” Martin said, noting that the Huskies top defender, sophomore Cory Martin, had to sit out most of the game after getting two quick penalties at the beginning of the game.
“They’re a good team but they’re not that good,” Craig Martin said. “In water polo, to be successful you have to adjust to different levels of play, depending on how the officials are calling the game. Hopefully, with more experience, especially with some of younger players, we’ll be able to adjust better in situations like that.”
Gabe Gunselman scored three goals for Sweet Home, and Derek Jaques and Alex Stupin each added one. The Huskies finish the season 6-8.