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Water Polo Lady Mustangs Claim Sixth Straight Crown
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Senior utility player Whitney Lee was not fazed by Sonoras defense as she scored two goals in the league contest. DENNIS D. CRUZ/THE LEADER

 

The OHS varsity Lady Mustangs water polo team welcomed rival Sonora to town in the 2015 regular season finale Wednesday, Oct. 28. With a 7-5 victory at the Oakdale City Pool, the girls earned their sixth consecutive Valley Oak League title. To make the match up even memorable, four seniors were honored before the start of the contest.

In a seesaw battle throughout the match, Oakdale’s Kinsey Ollis scored the first goal of the evening to give the Lady Mustangs a 1-0 lead with 4:22 remaining in the first quarter. It was the only goal of the quarter. A 1-1 tie was broken up by Whitney Lee of Oakdale when she scored with 4:49 left in the half. Sonora answered with a pair of quick goals to end the half with a 3-2 advantage. Ollis tied the game 50 seconds into the second half, but Sonora regained the lead on a goal with 2:53 left in the third. The third quarter scoring frenzy continued when Clare McKeon tied it up again on a goal with 1:07 left in the third. Sonora would not go down quietly as they hit their second goal of the quarter with two seconds remaining.

The Lady Mustangs found themselves in a 5-4 hole and only seven minutes to climb out of it if they wanted to regain the league title. Resiliency showed as Oakdale tied it up on a Kate Mendes goal with 5:43 remaining in the game. Ollis capped off her memorable performance as she scored the go ahead goal with 3:02 left to play. The final goal of the match came from Lee with 1:41. After Lee’s goal the home crowd began to celebrate as senior goalkeeper Caitlin Golding shut down Sonora’s offense in the final minutes of the game with multiple stops to help Oakdale win the match.

With the win Oakdale enters the CIF Sac-Joaquin Section Division II girls tournament as the number three seed and earned a bye in the first round. On Thursday, Nov. 5 Oakdale will host the winner of the first round matchup between Golden Valley and McNair at 5:30 p.m.