The Palm Springs girls’ water polo team used patience and balance to put away cross-valley foe Indio on Tuesday in a second-round CIF-SS playoff pitting two desert teams.
The Indians had six different goal-scorers and kept the pressure on, eventually pulling away from Indio for a 15-10 win, despite Indio leading 7-6 at the half.
The Rajahs double-teamed Palm Springs star Alaina Vega throughout the first half and held her without a goal, but that left other Indians open and they capitalized.
But as the game wore on and players wore down, Vega started to get some opportunities and she capitalized on them, scoring all four of her goals after halftime and taking over the game.
“Overall we had a lot of energy and kept it positive, that’s really helped us, we don’t get down if things are going bad, telling each other ‘Hey good job’ or ‘Hey, next one’ and that really helps out a lot,” Vega said. “Also I think that gets in the other team’s head a little when they see you’re staying positive.”
The win advances the Indians to the Division 5 quarterfinals where they will be on the road against Laguna Hills on Friday. The Indians are the last remaining desert team. Palm Desert lost a tough Division 3 game to Yucaipa 13-11 on Tuesday and La Quinta lost its Division 5 rad game at Costa Mesa 11-7.
In Tuesday’s win for Palm Springs, Vega and Andrea Elizalde each had four goals. Emily Cash added three, Jolie Ayub two and Jennifer Arita and Uma Atri-Benjamin each scored once. Goalkeeper Starr Slate had multiple impressive saves in net for the Indians.
The Rajahs were led by Gianna Mandujano and Adi Gutierrez who each scored three times. Lorena Magana scored twice and Jayden Rubio and Annesten Galvan each scored once. Goalie Alyssa Guenther kept her team in it with several key stops.
This article originally appeared on Palm Springs Desert Sun: Palm Springs water polo outlasts Indio in desert-on-desert CIF-SS tilt
Reporting by Staff reports, Palm Springs Desert Sun / Palm Springs Desert Sun
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
