The Coronado boys’ water polo team headed to Mesa College for their second matchup against Clairemont. In their first head-to-head, the Islanders won 13-7. They followed it up this time around with an even more deciding win, 18-9.
The Islanders put up a stellar performance defensively, using a press defense to apply pressure to the Chieftains, and it worked. Head coach David Throop said the efficient offense helped the defensive effort.
“One of the things we’ve been working on is using our offensive control and tempo to kind of dictate setting up our defense while we’re on offense,” Throop said.
Toward the end of the second quarter, Clairemont started to fight back, as they got a few stops and scores to get the game within four with under two minutes left before halftime. But the Islanders responded and went into halftime up 10-5 and proceeded to keep the Chieftains at arm’s length the rest of the way.
When Clairemont was showing signs of crawling back, Throop told his guys to keep playing their game.
“Just remind them that we’re in control of the game, as we had been, and just go back to the foundations of what our system is … most importantly, set our defense up. And that’s the key, using our offense to set up our defense.”
The game featured hat tricks from junior Russell Richardson, senior Luca Morocco and sophomore Devin Ertekin.
The Coronado boys’ water polo team plays next on Thursday, Oct. 23, at home against Patrick Henry High.
