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Martinez Tribune
The season started for the Alhambra girls water polo team exactly the way it did last season: with a win over Bishop O’Dowd.
This time it only took four quarters for the two teams to decided the outcome of the match, but on Sept. 6 it was again the Bulldogs who were victorious, this time by a score of 7-5.
Now that could either bode well for the Alhambra girls (a win is a good way to start the season). Or it could be ominous. Last season they won their first game against the Dragons, but missed out on the playoffs for the first time in 10 years.
The Lady Dogs were able to handle the Dragons’ attacks fairly simply in the first half of play on Tuesday afternoon. In fact, the Dragons struggled so much to get off the mark in their attack that it helped fuel the Bulldogs on the offensive side of the ball.
The first goal came off a long pass into the corner that Amanda Beattie managed to hold off before laying off to Daria Dragecevic, who scored emphatically right at the three-minute mark.
Up until that point O’Dowd hadn’t managed to get a shot on goal, but Alhambra couldn’t make them pay. They squandered two exclusions before finally finding the back of the net.
O’Dowd only put two shots on frame in the first half, and none of those came in the very defensively played out first quarter.
The Dragons first shot attempt was way off the mark in the second quarter, but it seemingly woke the Bulldogs up. Despite being in the lead, their lackluster play up to that point looked like they were still working some kinks out.
Finally at the halfway point of the second quarter they took their chances on their third exclusion drawn. They nearly turned the ball over but an aware Sarah Exner picked the defender’s pocket on a poor back pass to the keeper and slotted home for the second goal.
Then it came in bunches.
Julia Brown floated a shot in from the corner and seemed surprised to see it in the back of the cage. Brown’s effort was followed up with a goal off a steal from Dragicevic.
The senior stole an errant Dragons’ pass and countered quickly to fellow senior Katie Christman. Christman drew a kick out before going back to Dragicevic for the fourth Alhambra goal of the match.
It looked like it would be a long day for the Dragons going into the half, but they came out a brand new team.
The Dragons got off the mark first with a counter attack goal, but Christman answered back with a long lob of the keeper to keep the deficit at four goals. Not much to worry about yet.
A slick set of give-and-go passes between senior Bella Hurst and freshman Kaylee Pond put the Dogs up 6-1 as the senior slotted home coolly from close range.
But O’Dowd answered with consecutive goals to make things a bit more worrisome for Frank Reichert’s girls.
The Bulldog girls held on in the fourth quarter, but Exner’s second goal with 3:42 on the clock made it easier for them to coast to the win. Had the senior not buried her chance off a pass from Dragicevic, the final minutes of play could have been more tense, and Alhambra would not have been able to wind the clock down for a season-opening win.
