Oakdale High School’s water polo programs saw mixed results during a busy week. The varsity girls played two games this past week, resulting in a split in the action. The Oakdale varsity boys opened their season with a tough road loss.
For the Lady Mustangs, Oakdale hosted Rio Americano on Tuesday, Sept. 4. Oakdale fell behind 6-0 in the first quarter and could not regroup. Bethany Metcalfe scored the first goal for Oakdale with 2:14 remaining in the first quarter, but Rio Americano answered with their seventh goal of the opening quarter 46 seconds later to go up 7-1. Each team added one goal in the second quarter, Metcalfe scoring her second goal of the evening as the two teams went to the break 7-2. Neesa DeLeon scored the opening goal of the third quarter with 5:41 remaining in the quarter. Rio Americano countered with three straight goals to go up 11-3. Metcalfe tallied two more goals in the final three minutes of the third quarter to bring Oakdale’s deficit to 11-5. Metcalfe completed her day with her fifth goal of the contest with 6:04 left to play. Rio Americano closed the game out on a 2-0 run to win 13-6.
“It was a tough loss,” said Metcalfe. “We battled to bring it within reach but could not complete the rally.”
The next day, Oakdale traveled to take on Vintage and won the game 10-6. Metcalfe followed up her five goal game by scoring six in the road win. DeLeon, Kayla Peterson, Haley Rivera and Savannah Derby each scored one goal for Oakdale. Camryn O’Neal had 14 saves in the win.
“The girls recovered really well from the loss on Tuesday,” said head coach Diane Kline. “We are still getting settled into new positions and new personnel but I am very excited about the outlook for this season.”
Oakdale took on Turlock in a road contest on Tuesday, Sept. 11 following The Leader’s press time. The Lady Mustangs are also scheduled to play Wednesday, Sept. 12 at Pitman. Their busy week continues as they go on the road against Lincoln on Thursday, Sept. 13.
Wednesday, Sept. 5 was the first game for the boys as they took on Vintage. Oakdale lost the contest 11-7. Aron Cameron led the boys with three goals with Chandler Neal scoring two and Ethan Perry adding one in the loss. Goalkeeper Zach Hill had seven blocks and three steals.
“We had a great game against a really solid Vintage team,” Kline said. “We are still in the early stages of the season, but in my opinion, we are already more developed than we were at this point last year. We are ready to improve on last year’s really solid finish.”
Last season the boys team reached the second round of the CIF playoffs. The boys have the same schedule as the girls this week; the games for the girls are scheduled at 4 p.m. with the boys to follow.
