After an earlier loss in the week to a tough Sheldon team, the Husky boys dominated Corvallis, 16-7, enroute to their second league win. The girls had an afternoon off because Corvallis couldn’t put together a full team and had to forfeit.
Corvallis, with its new program, wasn’t experienced enough to handle Sweet Home. Though the Spartans had three quick, strong throwers, they often fouled on the defensive end. Their top player, held in check by Sean Martin, had three ejections and was eliminated from play in the second quarter.
Meanwhile, the Huskies kept their composure during the rough play and stuck with their game plan to use Jeff Stratman in the hole, who then looked to hook up with his teammates on passes.
Stratman still led the team in scoring with 6 goals, followed by Larry Coulter and Martin with four each. Matt Maloney and James Davis chipped in with a goal apiece.
The Sheldon Irish proved that their program deserved the respect they get in the water polo world when they downed the Sweet Home boys 18-7 and the girls 21-4. In the boys game, due to team problems, the Sheldon coach sat several of his players while they played short-handed in the first quarter. The Huskies scored the first two goals at the shallow end with Coulter firing the ball in from the deep middle and Davis skipping one under the goalie.
But the Irish’s strong, quick zone defense allowed them to front Stratman in the hole and control Martin at the point in order to score the next three goals, the last one at 4 seconds to take a 3-2 first quarter lead. Even though the Irish were at full strength in the second quarter, the Huskies, with no substitutes, were able to hang in at 6-3 at the end of the half.
In the second half, however, Sheldon’s superior skills and depth took its toll on the Huskies.
They busted out quickly with three goals after steals and breakaways. Stratman, using a pass from Coulter, stopped the Irish rush temporarily with his second goal, but Sheldon never let up.
To make matters worse, Martin fouled out of the game early in the fourth quarter. From that point, Sheldon began to make position changes to move lesser players into scoring roles.
Stratman and Coulter finished the game with three goals each.
Sheldon’s girls had the same philosophy as the boys. Front on defense, steal, and breakaway.
They prevented Sweet Home from getting off a shot in the first quarter on the way to a 10-0 halftime lead. Most of those goals were scored in the deep end as Liz Andersen once again had an unbelievable number of saves and deflections in the shallow end net against wide open Irish shooters.
Amber Larsen scored two goals in the third quarter and Krystle Streight and Ashley Andersen scored in the fourth quarter.